Bitcoin has finally surmounted the greatest psychological barrier of all, passing $10,000 and showing no signs of stopping. Following a week of consolidating at all-time high levels around $8,000, Bitcoin found the strength to move up powerfully over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Black Friday saw the currency hit new highs in the upper $8,000s before surmounting the $9,000 level Saturday and immediately charging toward the $10,000 mark Sunday. These price increase come on unusually high volume, with fear of missing out (FOMO) bringing new investors in rapidly.
Bitcoin has had a stunning year, by anyone’s accounting. Having started the year at just under $1,000, the price jump to over $10,000 represents some incredible changes. This growth is not a flash-in-the-pan either, but is supported by growing mainstream adoption and massive trading volume. In just the past 24 hours Bitcoin’s trading volume has exceeded $5 bln.
The year has been filled with major announcements that signal the widespread acceptance and growth of Bitcoin. Extensive coverage by mainstream analysts was followed by huge growth in Bitcoin hedge funds and institutional investors.
Another major contributing factor for Bitcoin’s sizeable gains is the reality that Bitcoin futures will soon be traded on major regulated markets. Two of the world’s largest futures markets, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE), will soon launch Bitcoin futures.
As transactions continue to proliferate, Bitcoin mining has become increasingly profitable as well. Miners today make $1.5 mln in fees alone, not including block rewards. Consider the chart below, as the market has increased, the mining returns have increased exponentially as well.
Regions with greater access to technology have, of course, seen the most consistent adoption curves. For example, consider the European adoption graph below, and note that the adoption has steadily grown, but the huge jumps are not the norm.
However, other nations with substantially less democratized technology are just now catching up. Venezuela is a great example; as the Bolivar has devalued, the adoption of Bitcoin has risen exponentially.
Part of the growth in global access has been the sudden increase in Bitcoin ATMs, as well. A remarkable 4.8 Bitcoin ATMs are installed somewhere on a daily basis, and those numbers will only continue to grow as new ATM companies come online all the time.