The value of a single Bitcoin has continually increased but now, it’s skyrocketed to more than $5,000.
The cryptocoin, known as the currency of the new technology age, could now be one of the best investments you’ve ever made.
That’s a meteroic rise when you consider less than a decade ago, people purchased Bitcoins for only a couple of cents.
This isn’t the first time Bitcoin has crossed the $5,000 milestone.
Only last month, on September 2, for a brief time at some exchanges, the currency was valued at over $5,000 before sharply being pulled back later the same day.
However this time, it’s made the leap with consistency as one Bitcoin currently trading at $5,161, at the time of writing, with its value having risen by more than seven per cent in the last 24 hours.
This value isn’t likely to stick though since the price of Bitcoin has been on a crazy roller-coaster with no sign of hopping off.
Despite being valued at $5,000 for a short time in early September, it quickly plummeted to about $3,000 on September 15 before starting a sharp new rise.
With no simple reason for why the price of Bitcoin swings, who knows where it’ll go next.
It’s believed the reason why the price of Bitcoin has suddenly shot up recently is because a new version, called Bitcoin Gold, is about to be released on October 25.
If you own Bitcoin on this day, you’ll also own the same amount in Bitcoin Gold and depending upon how much this cryptocurrency is worth, there may be some free money in it for you?
The same happened the last time a new version came out – like the Bitcoin Cash split in August – and so people are looking to buy as much Bitcoin as possible.
For years, the creator of the infamous cryptocurrency was known to only a few but in May 2016, he was finally unmasked.
Australian entrepreneur, Craig Wright, publicly identified himself as being the man behind the coin – ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ – using technical proof to back up his claim.
He revealed the secret to three media organisations – the BBC, The Economist and GQ.
According to the BBC, Wright digitally signed messages in front of journalists using cryptographic keys which were created right at the start of Bitcoin’s development.
Bitcoin is a virtual token rather than a physical coin or note and as with all currencies, its value is determined by how much people are willing to exchange it for, hence its value constantly changing.
In order to process transactions using Bitcoin, a process called ‘mining’ must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem for each block of Bitcoins.
The difficulty of each problem is continually adjusted in order to ensure a steady stream of new Bitcoins are produced each day.
In order to receive one, you must have a Bitcoin address which acts as a virtual postbox.
Because there is no register containing these addresses, people can remain anonymous as their identity is protected.
Confused? So am I!
