2017 Gains Soar to 940% as Bitcoin Tops $10,000

This week has been a great week for Bitcoin – the virtual currency soared to an all-time high above the $10,000 value which had been highly anticipated by many of its followers. But will it hold? As of now, Bitcoin seems to be doing pretty well on various major digital currency indexes and major exchanges including the renowned Luxembourg-based BitStamp. This year alone, Bitcoin has broken a ton of records by soaring to over 900% of its initial value at the beginning of January 2017 thus registering the largest gain of nearly all asset classes while at the same time having to cope with the increased institutional and market demand for crypto-currencies. Evidently, mainstream use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has increased significantly and the horizons are looking clear, in most part.

Still, cryptocurrencies are still met with a significant amount of skepticism – Bitcoin’s value and price surge are seen by some of these skeptics to be nothing more than a speculative bubble that does not relate to any real financial market or the economy as a whole. Among the skeptics is leading banker and Credit Suisse Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam who openly expressed skepticism for Bitcoin saying;

“From what we can identify, the only reason today to buy or sell Bitcoin is to make money, which is the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble.”

There have been endless raging debates regarding the legitimacy of Bitcoin but the fact that the decentralized digital currency has managed to stay afloat despite a number of major crashes across its 9-year lifespan has put certain opinions under review for reconsideration. Bitcoin’s value may vary from one market to another but the escalating trend of its value seems to be stabilizing and this is a core concern for potential investors and the Bitcoin community. Will it hold? How high can it get? We will just have to wait and see.