It seems that every time you blink bitcoin is achieving new record highs, and today marks the rise of yet another all-time high as it scales past $11,000.
At the time of publishing, the number one digital currency is trading at an historic $11,110, according to CoinMarketCap, pushing its market total to $185.6 billion. Over the past seven days it has increased by 34.60 percent.
This parabolic rise in value is due to increasing interest from Wall Street investors in the market. Next month will see the launch of CME Group’s bitcoin futures contracts, enabling traders to bet on the price of the digital currency. JPMorgan Chase has also indicated that it is considering helping its clients with this too, by providing them access to CME’s futures, should it launch.
With heightened interest in the crypto market, Mike Novogratz, billionaire investor and hedge fund manager, thinks that it could ‘easily‘ reach $40,000 by the end of 2018. However, at a recent conference in New York, he said that getting to that figure would not be smooth.
According to CNBC, the former Fortress manager, said:
There will be wild crashes in it because you’re going to get to levels so far ahead of where the technology’s at. It makes investing really, really exciting, but difficult.
It’s not just bitcoin that is experiencing a surge in value. So too is second-placed ethereum. For much of 2017, the alt-coin has been flirting with the $300 mark; however, in recent weeks it has witnessed a surge in price. So much so, that it has achieved a new record of over $500, at $513, according to CoinMarketCap, pushing its market cap to $49.2 billion. Novogratz is of the opinion that ethereum could triple its value too from where it currently is by next year.
As can been seen from the chart below, a large number of alt-coins are experiencing a rise in price, helping to push the combined market price to $338.5 billion. This now now makes it more valuable than Visa and the Bank of America. With JPMorgan Chase valued at $343 billion, could the market continue its upward trend to surpass the Wall Street bank?
Since the beginning of the year, bitcoin has risen by over 1,000 percent; however, with one month left of 2017 could it rise even higher, surpassing further expectations?