Bitcoin Price Jumps Above $1150-Highest In Last Three Years
Web-based digital currency Bitcoin has passed $1,110 for the first time on the Bitstamp Price Index (BPI) since early November 2013.
Bitcoin broke the barrier on 1 January and now is trading above $1,150 mark at the time of writing, marking a bright beginning to 2017 for the digital currency.
At the time of writing, 1 Bitcoin = $1158.99.
Bitcoin is a revolutionary virtual currency that has no central authority; instead, it relies on thousands of computers worldwide that validate transactions and add new Bitcoins to the system.
The world’s first and most famous cryptocurrency is developed around Blockchain, which is a complex cryptographic protocol and a global computer's network that oversees and verifies which Bitcoins have been spent by whom.
The identity of the people spending Bitcoins is extremely difficult to trace because of its anonymous nature. Therefore, the currency is very popular among criminals.
So what's behind the recent surge in the Bitcoin value?
Market watchers have suggested that the value of Bitcoin may have been boosted in the past year by increased demand in China on the back of a 7 percent annual drop in the value of the yuan in 2016, which is the Chinese currency's weakest annual performance in over 20 years.
According to Reuters, Data shows most Bitcoin trading is done in China. More than 5 Million Bitcoins were traded within 24 hours since the turn of the year, with nearly 38 Billion yen traded (~$3.2 Billion), , according to Cryptocoin.
Bitcoin's outstanding performance this year has also been driven by a lack of supply of cash in India, where its Prime Minister removed high-denomination banknotes from circulation at the beginning of November 2016.
While Bitcoin remains the most widely used and successful cryptocurrency of all time, some cryptocurrency has also gained popularity in the past year, which includes Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Monero, and Dash.
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