At the moment, Bitcoin is trading at $16,008. On Thursday, the difference between the rates of the cryptocurrency on various exchanges reached $ 4000.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the “Bitcoin mania” has reached new levels: the rise of the rate from $12,000 to $16,000 took Bitcoin 40 hours.
Despite the fact that Bitcoin is known for the high volatility of trades, such sharp fluctuations in its rate have become a surprise for traders.
The experts explain the rise of the rate by its growing popularity, as well as the expected launch of the Bitcoin futures by some popular exchange operators, which will provide access to the cryptocurrency to institutional investors.
As reported, last week the Commission for Urgent Commodity Futures Trading (CFTC) gave CBOE and CME permission to launch Bitcoin futures.
CBOE intends to launch the cryptocurrency-based futures already on December 10.
Some investors believe that the launch of Bitcoin futures will limit the volatility of its rate, as it will give traders the opportunity to hedge positions in the cryptocurrency.
Since the beginning of 2017, the growth of the bitcoin rate has exceeded 1560%, and many experts still hold the view that the cryptocurrency is a “bubble.”
"It's obvious that people are investing money in Bitcoins thinking that others will do it," said Tim Swanson, founder of the consulting company Post Oak Labs in San Francisco.
Even some of the Bitcoin supporters began to show concerns, writes WSJ.
“I'm 90% sure it's a bubble,” said Stephen Pair, CEO of BitPay, who facilitates transactions with Bitcoin for business.
Despite the concerns expressed by Pair, BitPay has been successfully developing. The service revenue has quadrupled this year, and this week the company announced plans to raise $30 million to finance business development.
"I do not like such a crazy volatility,” he said, noting that he is not sure which factors drive up the Bitcoin rate.
The well-known investor Bill Gross believes that Bitcoin cannot become an alternative to conventional currency since the potential number of units of this cryptocurrency is limited to 21 million.