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Bitcoin Breaks $270 in Historic Climb

Today marks a new all-time high for the digital currency Bitcoin. For the first time ever, Bitcoin was traded at $270 on Japan-based exchange Mt.Gox. On Coinbase, the price of Bitcoin was just below $270.

With nearly 12 million bitcoins in circulation, Bitcoin now has more than a $3 billion market capitalization

Here are the charts showing the historic climb of Bitcoin.

Mt. Gox chart from Bitcoin Charts

Coinbase chart from Coinbase

Looking Back at the Last Peak

The last time Bitcoin reached prices this high was in April 2013. The currency reached $266 and then crashed dramatically.

Read: Did the Bitcoin Bubble Burst Already? (April 12, 2013)

This time, there seems to be more stability around this climb. Increased adoption and trading volume in China has contributed to the price climb.

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Bitcoin News

A roundup of the top Bitcoin news from April 8 to April 14:

Monday, April 8

• Bitcoin Market Cap Shoots Past $2 Billion in Historic Milestone

Tuesday, April 9

• Bitcoin Stories: The 300 BTC Porsche, First Supercar Transaction

Thursday, April 11

• Bitcoin Theft: Mt. Gox Attack Pillages Investor’s Bitcoin Account

Friday, April 12

• Did the Bitcoin Bubble Burst Already?
• Winklevii Bitcoin: Twins Secretly Own 1% of the Bitcoin Economy

Sunday, April 14

• Video: Bitcoin Primer – Bitcoin Economy, Mining, Exchanges, and More

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Bitcoin Bubble May Be Over

Wow, the Bitcoin bubble blew up fast.

Bitcoins were trading for as high as $266 earlier this week and as low as $77 today.

Trading activity overwhelmed exchanges like Mt. Gox and trading was halted twice, as shown in the chart below from CNN Money.

“The rather astonishing amount of new accounts opened in the last few days…made a huge impact on the overall system that started to lag,” said Mt. Gox. “As expected in such situations, people started to panic, started to sell Bitcoin in mass…resulting in an increase of trade that ultimately froze the trade engine.”

This comes on the heels of Bitcoin theft and DDoS attacks on the exchange.

Bubble photo by Visual Artist Frank Bonilla used under Creative Commons license.

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Bitcoin Bubble: Is It Irrational?

Is there a Bitcoin bubble? The Economic Times explored opinions of several financial experts.

First, there is Yannick Naud, portfolio manager at London-based Glendevon King Asset Management firm. He has seen an increase in client interest about Bitcoins. His view is that Bitcoin’s accelerated climb to over $1 billion in value is unsustainable.

“It’s completely irrational. As an investor you can’t put any underlying value on the Bitcoin itself. The bubble will burst when there will be less people willing to enter (the Bitcoin market) than people willing to leave it. It’s hard to pinpoint, but it probably won’t last another month at this price.”

Will the Bubble Pop or Governments Intervene First?

Alistair Cotton, a senior analyst with Currencies Direct compares Bitcoin to Napster. Even though Napster was shut down for enabling illegal file-sharing, Pandora’s box had been opened and there was no going back. But investors in Napster did not reap the rewards that others did from the transformation of the music, movie, and television industries.

“If [Bitcoin] gets very popular, I can see the government clamping down. I think it would lead to a massive drop off in the number of users. If you look back in history in terms of financial bubbles, they always end. It’s going to be a very rough ride for guys that invest in Bitcoin for speculative purposes.”

More interviews and analysis via The Economic Times.

Bubble photo by Visual Artist Frank Bonilla used under Creative Commons license.

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