Investing.com – The price of the digital currency Bitcoin zoomed to the highest level in its nine-year history, before pulling back sharply amid fears a sudden selloff in the cryptocurrency might spiral into something deeper.
The digital currency climbed to an all-time peak of $11,441 on Wednesday, before collapsing by more than 20% to a low of on the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange.
The drop was triggered in part by intermittent outages at leading cryptocurrency exchanges and amid growing fears of an asset bubble.
Bitcoin, which started 2017 at about $1,000 and broke through $5,000 in October has risen almost 1,000% so far this year.
At current prices, bitcoin has a total market capitalization of around $160 billion.
The price has been boosted by last month’s decision by CME Group (NASDAQ:), the world’s largest derivative exchange operator, to launch bitcoin futures by the end of the year in response to demand from some of its largest users.
The move has helped give the cryptocurrency legitimacy in the eyes of some traders, but analysts have warned that an asset bubble is building.
The question on everybody’s mind is when will the bubble finally pop.
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Source: Investing.com
