Bitcoin breaks through the $10,000 mark!

According to the quotes of Bitcoin trading platform GDAX, Bitcoin has broken through the $10,000 mark against the U.S. dollar, setting a new record high. Currently, among the top five Bitcoin trading platforms, four platforms have Bitcoin quotes exceeding $10,000.

(Image source: GDAX)

Bitcoin to USD quotes on major Bitcoin trading platforms

Currently, the market value of Bitcoin has exceeded 170 billion US dollars. If it were an independent country, Bitcoin would rank around 55th (the rankings of the United Nations, World Bank and IMF are slightly different).

Looking back at the past year, the price of Bitcoin has soared nearly tenfold, but it has not been smooth sailing. As shown in the figure below, various regulatory and market emergencies have caused Bitcoin's trend to fluctuate and climax:

The road to $10,000 (Source: Visual Capitalist & Blockchain Intelligence Group, compiled by Zhang Yiwei, Wall Street Journal)

At the beginning of this year, Bitcoin was only about $1,000. Within a year, it increased by 1,000%.

Other digital currencies have also seen crazy gains. So far this year, Ethereum has risen about 60 times, and Litecoin has risen about 25 times.

Why is Bitcoin rising so fast?

During Thanksgiving, Bitcoin broke through $9,000 and then soared all the way, breaking through the $10,000 mark in just two days.

Some analysts believe that it is likely that during the Thanksgiving family gathering, everyone was talking about Bitcoin at the dinner table, and as a result, many people opened accounts and became Bitcoin investors.

On Thanksgiving Day alone, Coinbase, the largest Bitcoin trading platform in the United States, added more than 100,000 users, bringing the total number of users to more than 13 million. In November last year, the number of users was only 4.9 million. In other words, a large number of retail investors entered the market, boosting the rise of Bitcoin.

In addition, CME previously mentioned that Bitcoin futures will be launched within the year. In this way, Bitcoin will also enter the mainstream and become an asset recognized by the market.

The first year of ICO: average return rate of 1320%, is it crazy or inevitable?

As Bitcoin rushed towards the 10,000 yuan mark, the derivative industry of digital cryptocurrency - ICO (initial coin offering), which was originally a very niche financing model, also attracted the attention of mainstream society.

Various ICO projects have raised a total of $3.8 billion so far, and more than 92% of ICO financing activities occurred this year. For those who speculate and arbitrage in ICOs, this year is also a fruitful year. According to a report by Mangrove Capital last month, the average return rate of 204 ICOs collected in the sample was 1,320%, which is incredible.

Although ICO financing activities have been strictly stopped in China and South Korea, the craze for ICO in the international market has continued unabated. As of November 26, the scale of funds raised by ICOs in that month has reached US$743.2 million, exceeding the previous high of US$662.9 million in September, setting a new historical record.