Bitcoin prices skyrocketed Thursday, soaring almost $1,000 in one hour.
At 6:40 a.m. EDT Thursday, the cryptocurrency was trading for $6,863, but soon began to soar, clearing two key psychological barriers and topping off at $8,010 by 7:40 a.m. EDT, according to Coinbase. (Profit taking has brought the currency back to $7,698 as of 9:00am ET, but it’s still up 11% so far for the day.)
Nobody seems quite sure what caused the surge, though there has been some speculation lately that institutional investors could increase demand, which could have led to the bullish turn.
Another theory is short sellers were responsible for the spike. Once Bitcoin crossed the $7,000 mark, that might have triggered a buying surge.
Regardless of the reason, the bull market quickly spread to other cryptocurrencies, furthering the volatility for which the market is known.
Bitcoin Cash is up 9%. Ethereum is posting its own 11% gains this morning. And Litecoin is up 7%. And CoinMarketCap reports Ripple is seeing an 11% surge as well.