Another day, another record. Two days after breaching $1,700, Bitcoin continued its surge, trading through $1,800 as a wave of endorsements saw the cryptocurrency’s market cap head towards $30 billion. Early Thursday, Bitcoin rose over $100 to a high of $1,839 according to Coindesk BPI.
Big in Japan
Once an enigma, Bitcoin continues to gain acceptance in the financial sector. In early April, Japan began accepting Bitcoin as a legal currency with multiple retailers accepting it as a form of payment. The Japanese yen-Bitcoin market is the second-most liquid Bitcoin market, so the move was not a huge surprise but further confirmation Bitcoin is here to stay. “The Japan virtual currency act has likely had a major impact, as there has been a lot of buzz in Japanese media over the ruling over the last few months,” Aurélien Menant, founder of Gatecoin told CNBC.
Fed Endorsement
The move through $1,800 comes on the back of endorsement of the underlying technology or database that serves Bitcoin from Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari. “I would say the conventional wisdom now is that blockchain, the underlying technology, is probably more interesting and has more potential than maybe bitcoin does by itself,” Kashkari told Reuters.
Bitcoin prices have risen more than 30 percent in the last month and is up over 80 percent year-to-date, however, many believe this is just the start of something big. Gatecoin has put a 12-month price target of $3,000 on it [Bitcoin], while Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund sees it reaching $4,000 in the next 12 months.
