The price of Bitcoin has hit a two-month high. The cryptocurrency’s value has shot up over the past week, and has surged past the $8000 mark for the first time since May.
It’s worth $8014 (~£6100) at the time of publication, according to the Coinbase exchange. The last time it was worth this much is May 22 − just over two months ago.
Related: What is Bitcoin?
So far, 2018 has been a pretty demoralising year for Bitcoin holders.
It was worth more than $13,400 at the beginning of January, and few would have expected its price to plummet quite as dramatically as it did over the following months, despite the significant wobble we saw just before Christmas.
Bitcoin has a reputation for being wildly unpredictable, yet the steady decline we’ve witnessed over the first half of this year − driven largely by high-profile heists and scams − has come to feel like the norm.
As a result, this week’s price surge feels rather exciting. It appears to have had a positive effect on many other digital currencies too.
CoinMarketCap’s list of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation has a lot more green on it than we’ve seen in a long time. However, there’s a lot of red too.
It isn’t clear what’s behind Bitcoin’s latest price rise, but we’re bound to see a huge number of different theories from Bitcoin believers and Bitcoin sceptics over the next few days.
If you are tempted to invest in the digital currency, however, never put in more than you can afford to lose.
Are you a Bitcoin holder? What do you make of the latest developments? Share your thoughts and gut feelings with us on Facebook and Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
