The value of the cryptocurrency has multiplied by nine since the beginning of the year.
The value of the cryptocurrency has multiplied by nine since the beginning of the year.The value of bitcoin has skyrocketed lately, and on Tuesday broke the $ 10,000 barrier per currency for the first time, just two days after spending $ 9,000. The cryptocurrency was quoted at US $ 10,034 at the time of writing this report, an increase of more than 900 percent since the beginning of the year.
Tuesday's trading price gives bitcoin a market capitalization of US $ 168 billion, more than many companies in the S & P 500 index, including Dow 30 companies such as Boeing, Disney and GE.
Since its founding in 2009, bitcoin has made a name by allowing anonymous transactions. The digital currency is now accepted by more than 100,000 merchants worldwide, including Microsoft, Dish and Subway.
The cryptocurrency has experienced a massive increase in 2017. On January 1 of this year, the price of a bitcoin was just under US $ 1,000. Even so, the lack of government backing and regulation of the cryptocurrency has led to volatility, a milestone that occurs amid the growing concern that bitcoin is on the verge of a bubble.
"This is a bubble and there is a lot of foam in. This is going to be the biggest bubble of our lives," hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz told Bloomberg at a cryptocurrency conference in New York on Tuesday.