A month ago you could buy a bitcoin from Mt.Gox for under $200. Last week, it would have cost you around $400. At press time today, that same bitcoin costs about $670. What’s going on? Why would any use so volatile a currency? Alternatively, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 16,000 for the first time today, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 crossed the 1,800 threshold. Is bitcoin simply following the trend of the greater economy? It seems clear that, particularly in the past week, the value of a bitcoin is surging ahead at its own pace. This could be due to demand growing in China, where the largest bitcoin exchange is located, or is a result of speculators gaming the currency ahead of hearings on the currency in front of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs today and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs tomorrow. Whatever the reason, demand for bitcoins has never been greater. The exchange Coinbase is out of coins until Friday, according to Forbes. Here’s a look at the last 30 days of bitcoin prices as determined by blockchain.info: Now, this is a nice graph, if you’ve owned bitcoins for a while. But [...]
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