Bitcoin has been in a lull in recent months. The largest cryptocurrency's price kept declining throughout 2018, finally finding a bottom at roughly $3,200 last December. Since then, it's been a slow and shaky climb upwards.
On Tuesday, however, the price of Bitcoin surged more than 15% in less than an hour. The price briefly surpassed $5,000 on some exchanges, but is now slowly declining and currently sits at $4680, according to CoinMarketCap.
SEE ALSO:How much do you know about blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin?Bitcoin's price is known to be volatile, but this surge is notable as Bitcoin hasn't come close to $5,000 since November 2018. Furthermore, the sudden rise brings back memories of 2017, when such enormous price increases were nothing out of the ordinary.
Feels like 2017 all over again.Credit: Coinmarketcap.comThe reasons behind the price increase, as is often the case with Bitcoin, are hard to discern. The entire cryptocurrency space has steadily been making progress throughout 2018 and 2019 despite the negative price movement, but there haven't been any major new developments around Bitcoin that would prompt such a quick price jump. Notably, even Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, appeared stumped by the price surge as well.
Tweet may have been deleted
In fact, recent news has been fairly negative. A recent report by crypto index fund Bitwise had found that 95 percent of Bitcoin trading volume is fake. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed a decision on two possible Bitcoin ETF listings last week. And crypto exchange Bithumb was hacked to the tune of $13 million just last week.
The prices of other major cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, XRP, EOS and Litecoin, all jumped considerably, though not as much as Bitcoin. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies currently stands at $158 billion.
Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.
TopicsBitcoinCryptocurrency
(责任编辑：休閑)
More than half of women in advertising have faced sexual harassment, report saysA sexy Kenny G meme war is what the internet does bestPissed off fans get refunds after disastrous Kanye West showHow the Trump transition is being run like a Miss Universe pageantThis weird squid looks like it has googly eyes, guysTwo astronauts just installed a new parking spot on the International Space Station
UPDATE: Aug. 19, 2016, 2:04 p.m. EDT 。 Astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are back in the Inter
...[详细]Snapchat Spectacles are off to a great start avoiding Google Glass' stigma
As reality slowly sinks in that Trump will become president of the United States of America, many of
...[详细]The inevitable robot takeover is here, and it's starting at the mall
The robots are here. And their goal is to help you find the food court.。SEE ALSO:Cute Chinese robot
...[详细]New 'League of Legends' champion Camille revealed
There's a brand-new 。 League of Legends 。champion, and her name is Camille. 。She blends quick movement,
...[详细]Sound the alarms: Simone Biles finally met Zac Efron
Is there anything Simone Biles can't do?The unstoppable gymnast just won her fifth medal of the Rio
...[详细]Australians are pretty hooked on Snapchat, company figures reveal
Snapchat is doing remarkably well in Australia, new figures released by Snap Inc. show. 。 For the fir
...[详细]NFL's Mike Evans gets ripped for pre
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans sat during the pregame national anthem Sunday in prote
...[详细]Of course you have to buy Snapchat's Spectacles from a robot
Snap's Spectacles have finally landed. The company behind the popular messaging app Snapchat release
...[详细]Cat gets stuck in the most awkward position ever
Anyone with a cat can tell you that although their cat's claws are impressive scratching and hunting
...[详细]Telegram's blogging platform Telegraph is super simple and anonymous
With platforms such as Wordpress or Tumblr, starting a blog has never been easier, but in most cases
...[详细]