The Bitcoin crypto-currency has staged quite the comeback in recent months. Mt. Gox, the currency’s largest exchange, has hit a new high, passing the $32 mark for its US dollar exchange rate, as noted by Bitcoin Magazine.
The previous record of $31.9099 was set on June 8, 2011. While we’ve seen some talk of an earlier spike to $35, that appears to have been a glitch, rather than a fully-supported valuation.
Bitcoin’s climb is an impressive one. Its valuation has grown over 16 times since it bottomed out at a sub-$2 valuation back in November 2011. Believers in the currency who bought it back then are patting themselves on the back right about now.
Mainstream support for the currency is growing. Reddit recently began accepting Bitcoin for its reddit gold payment options, and domain registrar Namecheap is preparing to accept the currency. The Internet Archive is offering to pay its employees in Bitcoin and is asking for donations of the currency to help it do so. Kim Dotcom’s new Mega service and WordPress.com also accept Bitcoin.
We took a long look at Bitcoin’s prospects last September and concluded that it was here to stay, despite some price instability.
Security is going to be an ongoing concern for Bitcoin skeptics, though. Last fall, a hacker managed to steal 24,000 Bitcoins (worth roughly $250,000 at the time, though it’d be worth over $780,000 at today’s rate) from Bitfloor, one of the currency’s top exchanges. The exchange eventually reopened with additional security improvements.
Update: This article originally stated that Bitcoin bottomed out in November 2012. It was actually November 2011. Apologies for the mistake.
Image Credit: Zach Copley
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