By Stephen Karmazyn, BA

Published: December 22, 2016

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Stephen Karmazyn, BA
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Bitcoin Price: Bitcoin Just Surpassed a Major Milestone

bitcoin prices

The Bitcoin Price Is On an Upward Path

Bitcoin (BTC) passed $14.0 billion in market cap for the first time since 2013, building off of Wednesday’s three-year high for the Bitcoin price, and rising another 4.5% by Thursday afternoon.

The Bitcoin price is on the rise, as BTC sees investors flock toward the cryptocurrency due to concerns over more traditional markets’ volatility. The Bitcoin price now sits at $864.00 per BTC. (Source: “Bitcoin Surpasses US$14bn Market Cap For First Time Since 2013,” NewsBTC, December 22, 2016.)

As reported on Wednesday, the Bitcoin price eclipsed three-year highs. Now coupled with the increase in market cap, this news represents a strong surge for the BTC price heading into the new year.
What’s interesting is that other commodities that often surge in correlation with the Bitcoin price, like gold and other hedges against volatile markets, haven’t seen much of an uptake of late. Gold, for instance, has seen a steep decline since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, with the markets seemingly pointing toward a resurgent U.S. dollar. For now, it looks like the risk asset of choice for the market is Bitcoin. (Source: “Bitcoin is surging,” Business Insider, December 22, 2016.)
The Bitcoin price has had an otherwise banging year, with unexpected political upsets fueling its rise. From Brexit to Trump, the world was hardly fit for a predictable, business-as-usual mold during 2016, and the cryptocurrency was a strong beneficiary of all this unpredictability.

Of course, the last time the Bitcoin price rose above $800.00, the BTC price saw itself fall fairly steadily for the next few years, hitting a nadir in the low $200s.

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While behaving like a risk asset and a hedge, Bitcoin itself is by no means the most stable of investments. Between huge swings and potential hacks, the cryptocurrency is itself potentially prone to erratic shifts. For instance, take a look at this quote about the victims of BTC hacking:

Beyond the market, investors would be well served to ensure that their Bitcoin hoard is secured from hackers, as all transactions involving BTC are irreversible, and this has cost some owners millions of dollars in the not-so-distant past.

(Source: “Hackers Have Stolen Millions Of Dollars In Bitcoin — Using Only Phone Numbers,” Forbes, December 20, 2016.)

Bottom line: the Bitcoin price is surging, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t causes for concern.