Bitcoin hit a new record today, passing $9,000 for the first time.
Since its birth in 2009, the general trend of the coin has been steady appreciation in value. At the same time, the price of Bitcoin has been characterised by such drastic drops and jumps that the term rollercoaster ride seems less hyperbole and more understatement.
To see just one example of this Volatility , one need only look at September of this year. All cryptocurrency-related goings on were banned in China on the 31st of October. China had been the biggest playground for the digital currency industry, and the official announcement confirming the ban back in September caused the price of Bitcoin to drop to below $3,000. However it rebounded to above $3,500 only a couple of hours later, apparently due to the news that the country's two biggest exchanges had found a loophole and were to continue operations for the time being.
In October, the price hit $5,000 after soaring by 20% in only 24 hours.
The most recent factor in the rise in price is increasing mainstream adoption, that is, interest from major financial companies such as banks and exchanges. One example of this - both CBOE and CME Group, two major options and futures exchanges, announced plans to release Bitcoin futures by the end of this year. Their competition with each other has caused the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket, as the coin is seen to gain the approval of established institutions while maintaining that instability so attractive to currency traders.
But this is just one example. This year has been packed with news of established brokers beginning to offer cryptocurrency trading on their platforms. And when they do, they usually begin with Bitcoin, because it is the most widely recognised and well established of the digital currencies.
The SegWit2x saga has also caused major price fluctuations, as Bitcoin spin-offs briefly stole the limelight from their parent. We succinctly explained this particular hard fork in this post, and it was cancelled in the end, but suffice it say here - Bitcoin appears to have emerged stronger than ever from the story. And this weekend, despite expectations of a Thanksgiving weekend drop, Bitcoin has passed yet another milestone.
In 2017, the value of one bitcoin has grown from around $900 to $9,000 - one does not need to be a maths whiz to calculate that the latter price is ten times larger than the former.
