The runaway freight train that is cryptocurrency prices kept barreling down the track over the weekend, with the two most popular cryptos — Bitcoin and Ethereum — both setting new records and posting significant milestones.
Bitcoin surged above $3,000 for the first time on Sunday before pulling back a bit below the psychologically important “round number” level. BTC has more than tripled in value since the start of 2017, and has gained almost 30% in June alone. Yes, that’s a 30% rise in less than 12 days.
CNBC has some commentary on what’s driving the massive price gains:
Brian Kelly, CEO and founder of BKCM and a CNBC contributor, told CNBC this week that the cryptocurrency was “in the first years of what is likely to be a multi-year bull market. Of course there will be corrections and even crashes along the way, but bitcoin is here to stay.”
A contributing factor to bitcoin’s recent surge is growing demand from Asia. In addition to the China factor, Japanese interest has risen ever since the government approved bitcoin as a legal payment method in April.
Meanwhile, Ethereum prices jumped above the $400 level for the first time on Monday morning, hitting a high around $416. Mostly unknown outside of crypto circles at the start of 2017, ether has surged a startling 5,000% from its end-of-2016 price around $8.
The fast-growing cryptocurrency features additional security features that Bitcoin and others lack, which has led some to speculate that Ethereum could actually overtake BTC’s price in coming years.