Bitcoin bursts through $10,000 mark as strong run continues
Bitcoin has jumped above $10,000 (£7,853) for the first time in roughly 15 months, as its recent run of strong form shows no signs of slowing.
The cryptocurrency broke through the mark in the early hours of this morning and is now trading at roughly $10,900, according to figures from Bitstamp.
Read more: Bitcoin hits 10-month high of nearly $9,000 after strong start to 2019
The surge underlines a recent bounce back for Bitcoin, which plummeted to just over $3,000 six months ago.
The cryptocurrency has enjoyed a steady rise in value since the start of the year, and now has a market capitalisation of more than $190bn, according to Coin Market Cap.
“The bounce back of Bitcoin as been fairly extraordinary,” said George McDonaugh, chief executive and co-founder of blockchain and cryptocurrency investment firm KR1.
“It’s clear that during the 54-week bear market money didn’t leave the asset behind, it just sat on the sidelines waiting to get back in. Think of it as a slow game of musical chairs and once the first player sat down the rest joined the crush to get a position.”
Ethereum and XRP, the second and third-largest cryptocurrencies respectively, have also benefited from a recent surge.
“The recent ‘crypto winter’ has had the effect of shaking out a lot of the more dubious projects in the space, which has been of great benefit to the ecosystem as a whole,” said Joseph Denne, chief executive and founder of blockchain tech company Dadi.
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“What is left is a more mature set of platforms, with technologies that can be activated and used today.”
But Bitcoin is still well below its high of almost $20,000 at the end of 2017, and analysts have warned of volatility in the market.