Bitcoin breaks through $8 000

NEW YORK. — Bitcoin has soared to over $8 000. There are signs of a Bitcoin bubble emerging. That bubble has yet to reach a point of maturity meaning that Bitcoin will keep appreciating.

Bitcoin could reach $10 000 by the end of the year. Bitcoin keeps soaring to new highs despite claims from a range of prominent investors that it is in a massive bubble. The ground-breaking digital currency recently broke through the important $8 000 barrier to be trading $8 171,55 at the time of writing, making it worth roughly 8,5 times what it was worth at the start of the year.

In my last article on the ground-breaking cryptocurrency, I described it as the latest iteration of a market bubble, which can only end in disaster for many investors, especially for those that are late to the party. Regardless of this view, there are signs that the party has truly yet to start providing investors with the opportunity to profit from Bitcoin’s stratospheric rise.

This in part rests on the basis that whether you like it or not, block-chain, the technology that sits behind cryptocurrencies, is here to stay and it has the potential to radically transform the payments industry and financial transactions as a whole.

That along with the increasingly speculative fervour and manic buying of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies is making Wall Street as well as other major players in finance, banking and payments sit up and take a closer look at the opportunities available.

Wall Street’s interest in cryptocurrencies is growing

The world’s largest exchange operator by market value and leading provider of futures and other derivatives CME Group (CME) has announced that it intends to offer a bitcoin futures contract. This will be a cash-settled once a day reference for the US dollar price of Bitcoin based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate.

The contract is expected to commence trading on or around 11 December 2017. This will enhance the degree of liquidity surrounding Bitcoin, which some proponents claim should rein in the extreme volatility associated with the cryptocurrency that has been witnessed in recent months.

On the other hand, it could also increase the degree of speculation surrounding Bitcoin sparking greater volatility. — Alpha.