Here's what 5 experts said about bitcoin's momentous record-setting rally above $50,000

• Bitcoin surpassed the $50,000 mark for the first time on Tuesday, extending its year-to-date gain to 72%.
• The digital asset's price has surged this year on increased adoption by big-ticket players like Tesla.
• Five cryptocurrency experts gave their take on the 400% rally in the price over the last year.

After several attempts over the last few days, bitcoin finally broke above $50,000 on Tuesday for the first time to mark a new record high.

The digital token was trading at an intraday peak of $50,547, before slipping to around $49,700 as of 7:55 a.m. ET. A boost in its price has been driven by major companies including Tesla, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley warming up to cryptocurrencies.

Here's what 5 experts in the crypto industry said about bitcoin climbing past the $50,000 mark:

Sergey Nazarov, the co-founder of blockchain platform Chainlink

"With Bitcoin breaking $50,000 a coin, I believe we're reaching an inflection point where Bitcoin is essentially becoming the reserve currency of the internet. With the world's richest man putting bitcoin on Tesla's balance sheet, I think that institutions will have much more publicly acceptable justification to allocate to bitcoin. You have to understand, with this move, anyone who owns Tesla shares just received exposure to Bitcoin. The normalization of Bitcoin that is taking place right now cannot be understated."

Samantha Yap, founder and CEO at blockchain communications agency YAP Global

"We've definitely seen a shift in media perception of this cryptocurrency especially within mainstream media. The world is gradually taking Bitcoin as an asset class more seriously. At the same time we are seeing more educational news content emerge for newcomers looking to buy their first crypto."

Antoni Trenchev, Co-Founder and CEO of crypto lender Nexo

"In the institutional space, I expect this milestone and the recent Tesla investment to break the mold for many corporate copycats. A psychological barrier remains for the retail despite Bitcoin's divisibility, but I reckon this will soon be dispelled too as cryptocurrencies edge closer to mass adoption."

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Adam Liposky, ecosystem operations lead at blockchain data platform Pocket Network

"Bull runs in the BTC market creates bull runs innovation. The run we are experiencing today is illustrative of the widespread adoption of initial blockchain implementations, typified by Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is just the beginning. This run and the influx of capital into BTC will fuel future innovations of decentralized ecosystems that will change the world."

Sumit Gupta, CEO & co-founder of crypto exchange CoinDCX

"Companies such as Google Pay, and Samsung Pay too are now contemplating making inroads into cryptocurrency via Bitpay. We expect the trends to continue in the form of investments in these digital assets with the induction of newer products built around Bitcoin. The natural push to the price movement of Bitcoin is being fuelled by demands from retail and institutional investors."

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