Bitcoin has reached yet another price milestone as the digital asset has surpassed $7K per BTC on November 2. The decentralized currency has exceeded many expectations this year and continues to rise into 2018.
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The Price of Bitcoin Touches $7,000
Bitcoin markets have been unstoppable this year proceeding to higher price territories every month. As 2018 approaches, bitcoin has crossed the $7,000 mark after one of the most exciting years of its existence. As far as market value is concerned bitcoin is up well over 500 percent since January, and has outperformed every state-issued currency, and nearly every traditional commodity worldwide. The price has come a long way since the pre-2011 era when BTC was traded for pennies on the dollar. In fact, Lazlo’s famous Papa John’s pizza he bought for 10,000 BTC in 2010 cost him $70M at spot prices today. At press time one bitcoin is averaging $7,061 per BTC.
The Benefits of Bitcoin Are Being Utilized Globally Bypassing Borders and Governments
The decentralized and censorship-resistant currency is seeing a lot of demand from many different countries this year as well. Bitcoin is growing extremely popular in Venezuela, Zimbabwe, South Korea, Japan, India, and many more regions worldwide. Lots of citizens from these areas are using bitcoin for cross-border remittances, escaping capital controls, hyper-inflation, and demonetization. There are many stories of individuals feeding their families using BTC during the economic crisis in Venezuela. Alongside this, there are tales of many people escaping their government’s injustices by moving their sovereign wealth around as they please. Bitcoin’s benefits continue to provide financial freedom for those in need, and this has helped cushion the currency’s $114B market capitalization.
Mainstream Catches the Bitcoin Fever
Additionally, there’s been a significant swarm of mainstream interest looking directly at bitcoin for many different reasons. Many people see that the price is $7K and are dizzy with fascination because they dismissed the currency years ago. Everyday mainstream media is publishing a story about bitcoin, while big-name banks, and Wall Street executives discuss the protocol in a positive light now. It’s rare to hear about bitcoin being used for illicit purposes these days as more people are seeing investors flocking towards it exponentially.
Many Milestones in 2017
The protocol itself has seen many other milestones as well, breaking an abundance of records. For instance, the bitcoin hashrate has crossed nine exahash a couple of times this year as mining revenue continues to grow. Mining pools have also become more diversified as there is a wide variety of pools now in contrast to the early days. Transaction volume is at an all-time high, and there are far more bitcoin wallets in existence than ever before. In fact over a million bitcoin wallets are created every week since December of 2016. Interest in bitcoin is at an all-time high as well as Google Trends reports a big jump in worldwide attention.
Bitcoin’s Resilience Continues to Shine
Of course, bitcoin enthusiasts are thrilled about the $7K milestone and expect more growth in the future. Even this year bitcoin markets have been resilient shrugging off the exchange-traded fund (ETF) decision, the Bitfinex hack, the BTC-e seizure, and also the takedowns of two very large darknet markets. As the saying goes the ‘Honey Badger of Money’ just doesn’t care.
What do you think about bitcoin reaching $7K per bitcoin this year? Did you expect that? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoin.com, and Bitstamp.
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