Grid your virtual wallets, because bitcoin is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
The price of the popular digital currency surged more than 15 percent this week to $912 early Friday morning. The last time bitcoin was at such levels was in 2014, when the cryptocurrency was dropping from its record price of $1,137 following the now-infamous Mt. Gox exchange implosion and the tightening of Chinese controls.
Analysts chalked up the recent surge in bitcoin’s price to the increasing demand from buyers, who sought alternative assets following the shooting death of Russia’s envoy to Turkey as well as the attack that left 12 people dead in Berlin. China, where majority of trading occurs, also saw an increase in demand for bitcoin as the pressure on the Chinese yuan weakens.
“Terrorist attacks in Europe boosted haven demand in capital markets, and gold has been falling since Trump was elected,” Le Xiaotian, an analyst at Chinese exchange Huobi, told Bloomberg. “Global instability has to a large extent directed funds to the bitcoin market.”
Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis site Cryptocompare, said the demonetization in India has also helped drive the price of bitcoin higher.
“If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety,” Hayter told Reuters.
Bitcoin is still a long way off its peak $1,163 price, but because more bitcoins are being added to the system—currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes—the digital currency’s market cap, or total value, has already surpassed its 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion.
Analysts expect the demand for safe haven assets like digital currency to drive bitcoin’s value up by as much as $100 in the coming months. After all, traders have been calling bitcoin a “safe haven” asset that shows its strengths as an investment vehicle “in times of macroeconomic uncertainty.”
