Bitcoin

Bitcoin surpassed $US11,000 in a matter of hours after hitting the $US10,000 milestone, taking this year’s price surge to almost 12-fold as buyers shrugged off increased warnings that the largest digital currency is an asset bubble.

The euphoria is bringing to the mainstream what was once considered the provenance of computer developers, futurists and libertarians seeking to create an alternative to central bank-controlled monetary systems. While the actual volume of transactions conducted in cryptocurrencies is relatively small, the optimism surrounding the technology continues to drive it to new highs.

Bitcoin hit the $10,000 mark for the first time Nov. 28, passing the milestone on several exchanges and indexes. When you consider the digital currency’s rapid growth, you might think that people who say a single bitcoin could be worth $50,000 in the next decade might be onto something.

After a day of tepid approaches toward the total, the price of bitcoin rose above $10,000 on CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) for the first time in history on Tuesday.

Former Fortress hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz said Monday that bitcoin can multiply more than four times in roughly the next 13 months.

On CNBC’s Fast Money, Novogratz expressed his optimism towards both bitcoin and Ethereum in the mid-term. Novogratz, who has predicted the price of bitcoin to achieve the $10,000 mark before the end of 2017, stated that bitcoin price will quadruple by the end of 2018, and the price of Ether, the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum, will triple in value.

As Coinivore reports, Shinhan, the second largest commercial bank in South Korea by market valuation in the country is testing a Bitcoin vault and wallet service for its customers that is expected to be released by mid-2018.

A representative of Shinhan Bank told Naver News, a media publication in South Korea in an interview : “It is a service that keeps the blockchain key through the virtual safe provided by the bank. We are looking for ways to provide a free service when depositing and charge a fee when withdrawing.”

Both GOLD and BITCOINS, and the other CRYPTOCURRENCIES, are instruments completely free from the control of the central banks, and are therefore a natural diversification from the impacts that can be generated by the unconventional manoeuvres of the central banks.

There are now over 1,000 cryptocurrencies that have made their appearance, and the number will probably increase just as the number of apps has reached great heights. The Dutch tulip mania bubble of 1637 may be topped by the cryptocurrency craze.

Thomas Jordan, the chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) spoke out on cryptocurrencies on Thursday. Speaking at an event in Basel, Jordan, who also chairs the international Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, said that central banks are eyeing the issues of cryptocurrencies "very intensively," adding, "I would look at them more as an investment than a currency."

According to Reuters report, Jordan noted: "It is important to say it is not question of technology, but a question of who has access to central bank money and in what form. There are up to now many unsolved questions."

On November 23, Ethereum price reached a new all-time high above $400 barrier, currently trading at $400.84 nearly 10% from yesterday, according to the CoinMarketCap.

With its recent surge in price, the market valuation of Ethereum has moved closer to the $40 billion mark, a market cap that is larger than seven of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies in the market combined, with the exception of bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.