Global Stock Markets
Bitcoin prices could test another eye-watering barrier again
Wednesday, just hours after breaking through the $10,000 mark for the
first time, as the value of the world's benchmark cryptocurrency tops
some of the most well-know companies in U.S. history.
Bitcoins were marked $1050, or 10.7% higher in London trading on the bitsmap exchange and changing hands at $10,925 each after having hit a record $10,930.6 each earlier in the session, only hours after topping $10,000 and two days after breaching $9,000.
The jump extends its year-to-date advance past 950% and means the digital currency now trades at 8.3 times the price of gold, after having traded $200 below the bullion on January 1.
The moves also put bitcoin's "market cap", the theoretical value based on 16.7 million coins that have been verified by blockchain miners, at $186.5 billion, a figure that would place it 14th in the ranking of valuations on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, ahead of Walt Disney Co.($156 billion), IBM($141 billion) McDonald's Corp. ($149 billion) and just below Verizon Communications ($199 billion).
Collectively, however, cryptocurrency market cap values have exceeded $320 billion, based on Wednesday prices, and could hit $2 trillion by the end of next year, according to Galaxy Investment Partners founder Mike Novogratz, who first predicted bitcoin's $10,000 potential earlier this year.
The meteoric rise of bitcoin and its digital currency cousins, however, has raised concern from some who worry about the destablizing impact on broader financial markets, especially given their transition onto mainstream platforms such as the CME Group Inc., which plans to launch a bitcoin futures contract before the end of the year.
However, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe told BBC Radio4 Wednesday that the cryptocurrency world wasn't yet large enough to unsettle financial market stability or the broader global economy, although he did note that investors "kind of need to do their homework" when entering into transactions at these elevated levels.
Bitcoins were marked $1050, or 10.7% higher in London trading on the bitsmap exchange and changing hands at $10,925 each after having hit a record $10,930.6 each earlier in the session, only hours after topping $10,000 and two days after breaching $9,000.
The jump extends its year-to-date advance past 950% and means the digital currency now trades at 8.3 times the price of gold, after having traded $200 below the bullion on January 1.
The moves also put bitcoin's "market cap", the theoretical value based on 16.7 million coins that have been verified by blockchain miners, at $186.5 billion, a figure that would place it 14th in the ranking of valuations on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, ahead of Walt Disney Co.($156 billion), IBM($141 billion) McDonald's Corp. ($149 billion) and just below Verizon Communications ($199 billion).
Collectively, however, cryptocurrency market cap values have exceeded $320 billion, based on Wednesday prices, and could hit $2 trillion by the end of next year, according to Galaxy Investment Partners founder Mike Novogratz, who first predicted bitcoin's $10,000 potential earlier this year.
The meteoric rise of bitcoin and its digital currency cousins, however, has raised concern from some who worry about the destablizing impact on broader financial markets, especially given their transition onto mainstream platforms such as the CME Group Inc., which plans to launch a bitcoin futures contract before the end of the year.
However, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe told BBC Radio4 Wednesday that the cryptocurrency world wasn't yet large enough to unsettle financial market stability or the broader global economy, although he did note that investors "kind of need to do their homework" when entering into transactions at these elevated levels.
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