Bitcoin rose 5.01 per cent to $49,106.4 at 22:04 GMT on Friday, adding $2,342.1 to its previous close.

The price of bitcoin on Sunday is $49,239.20 or €42,095.58.

There is an analyst consensus that a move higher than $50,000 would clear the way for a major jump higher, possibly past the record at $63,729 reached on April 13 of this year.

“Investors are again HODLing for the long-term, taking liquidity out of the market,” write Coindesk analysts, referring to the practice of making long-term bets on a cryptocurrency. “Data tracked by Glassnode show bitcoin’s illiquid supply, or the balance held by illiquid entities, decoupled from prices in May, signaling renewed holding sentiment. The measure reached a record high 14.447 million over the weekend.

““Amount of bitcoin held by the strongest holders has retraced the whole dump and surged to [all-time high]. This is very bullish,” Lex Moskovski, chief investment officer at Moskovski Capital, tweeted.

If the illiquid supply continues to rise, a supply-side crisis may emerge, and last price year’s surge may be repeated.

All of this leads to forecasts that a move higher than $50,000 is expected.

“In the event of an extended rally, however, bitcoin could target $50,000 levels before any pullback. The third major resistance level sits at $52,077,” writes analyst Bob Mason in Forbes.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 77.4 per cent from the year’s low of $27,734 on January 4.

Ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 3.03% to $3,281.82 on Friday, adding $96.64 to its previous close.

The global cryptocurrency market cap is $2.10 trillion, a 0.21 per cent increase in recent days, while the total crypto market volume is now at $107.43 billion.

The crypto boom has received further support from the news that global retailer Walmart is seeking a cryptocurrency expert to drive strategy for the company. Walmart earns $559 billion in revenue per year, and its investment could signal a major move higher for its crypto targets.