Bitcoin crossed $14,000 a few hours ago, meaning it has topped another $2,000 in less than 24 hours. The crypto-currency began the year 2017 below $1,000 but continues its sharp rise, despite warnings from multiple analysts of a dangerous bubble.
Bitcoin hit the latest milestone during early trading in Asia today. The new record high comes just days before the launch of Bitcoin futures on two exchanges, including the world's largest futures exchange, CME.
Spread betting firm CMC Markets though said the rise had all the symptoms of a bubble market, warning "there is no way to know when the bubble will burst.”
The country where Bitcoin has become a total frenzy is South Korea, where some 2% of the population is now invested in it. Amongst millennials, it is called the fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) if you’re not invested in Bitcoin by now.
The high pace of Bitcoin and its bubble-prone graph has caused a sharp warning from the South Korean government, where Prime Minister Moon stated earlier this week that youngsters should realize that investments can also turn.
But like thousands of South Koreans, Mr. Moonsung Bae is infatuated with bitcoin.
The 35-year-old financial analyst now already holds half his liquid assets in Bitcoin: “I had this fear when I first bought. But then I realized, oh, it actually works.”
The craze has spread so far that, in South Korea, Bitcoin is now trading at a premium of about 23 percent over prevailing international rates, with very high costs paid to brokers to invest.
According to Coinmarketcap.com, about 21 percent of the Bitcoin buy trades in the past 24 hours were from South-Korean Won. That is huge for a country that accounts for only 1.9 percent of the global economy.
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Internet bubble, Housing Bubble, Market Bubble. All things go pop eventually