The value of the bitcoin cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high on Sunday, reaching $6,306 before settling down to somewhere around $6,170 at the time of writing on Monday morning.
Bitcoin’s previous record came around nine days previously, when it cleared $6,060. However, after that it fell as low as $5,374 before evening out, then climbing up to a new high on Sunday.
As is so often the case, it is very difficult to definitively explain bitcoin’s current trajectory. Some attributed its recent dip to the recent creation of the new “Bitcoin Gold” offshoot—as anyone holding bitcoin on the date of the fork would get the same amount of Bitcoin Gold for free, it’s possible that people loaded up on bitcoin ahead of the fork, then offloaded after it took place.
There hasn’t been any big news about bitcoin in the last few days, apart from the now-rote warnings over the market’s bubble-like nature—the most recent coming from Warren Buffett. A few days before that, Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal compared the virtual currency to the bankrupt energy business Enron.
Whatever the reason for bitcoin’s current perkiness, it’s not the only cryptocurrency to have a good couple of days. Bitcoin Cash, which forked off the main bitcoin blockchain in August, shot up by more than 20% on Sunday, and ether—the virtual coin used in the Ethereum network—cleared the $300 value mark.
Ethereum now has a market cap of $29.5 billion, while bitcoin’s market cap is $102.6 billion and Bitcoin Cash’s market cap is $7.8 billion.
