The value of a bitcoin on Tuesday surpassed $10,000 for the first time, signaling a significant boost in its popularity in a short period of time.
The cryptocurrency is up more than ninefold this year alone, and has jumped by 21 percent since Friday. Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 21 percent in 2017, while gold has increased in value by 13 percent. Peter Smith, who leads the bitcoin firm Blockchain.info, told The Wall Street Journal that they have “millions of active users,” as opposed to last year, when they “didn’t have a million.”
The digital currency spiked through $11,000 early Wednesday, hours after surpassing the $10,000 level for the first time. By 9:16 a.m. ET, bitcoin had leaped all the way to $11,377.33, according to CoinDesk.
But just over an hour later, bitcoin was back below $11,000 trading near $10,777.27 as the new milestones brought with them rapid volatility.
