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There are many factors of financial market anxiety, and the price of bitcoin has been soaring recently. Usually, money rushes to the safe side during a crisis, so why are virtual assets, which are considered risky assets, so strong?

Reporter Park Ye-rin contributed to this report.

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The sudden news of the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank on the 10th sent financial markets in the United States and around the world into a tailspin.

However, the bitcoin price, which was in the range of 2 million won at the time, has soared one day after another.

In just one week, it soared by 700%, but today (25th) it jumped 17% in one day to reach the 6.3470 million won mark.

The prospect that the Fed will slow its tightening due to market jitters has led to the rise of virtual assets that are unfavorable to high interest rates, but the reason why representative risk assets have soared alone in the crisis phase is somewhat insufficient.

Ultimately, the incident was interpreted as a demonstration of the fragility of the traditional banking system, and virtual assets emerged as alternative assets.

In particular, since Bitcoin is called a 'safe asset' among virtual assets, it seems that the demand for alternative assets has increased.

In fact, the price of Bitcoin has recently become more correlated with the price of gold, a leading safe-haven asset.

[Sung-Joon Park/Professor, Blockchain Research Center, Dongguk University: Both Europe and the United States are recognizing and legislating their value as digital assets. Bitcoin is the most verifiable asset in the digital asset market....]

However, since virtual assets themselves are so volatile, prudent investment is required.

It took less than two months for Bitcoin, which was once close to 8 million won, to be cut in half.

[Hong Ki-hoon/Professor of Business at Hongik University: When money exits, it exits the coin market first. If you suddenly have to raise interest rates again, it can crash again.]

As the banking system unrest eases, Bitcoin's near-term upward momentum is expected to weaken.

(Video Interview: Sung Sung Bo, Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin, CG: Zhuge Chan)