Which variables fueled Bitcoin’s astronomical 2017 gains?
Bitcoin has enjoyed some astronomical gains this year, climbing to nearly $20,000 earlier this month on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).
Even after its recent pullback (and subsequent recovery), the world’s largest digital currency by market capitalization (market cap) has risen more than 1,300% year-to-date, additional BPI figures show.
While analysts identified several factors as pushing Bitcoin prices higher in 2017, here is a short list of the top causes:
1) Growing Visibility
Bitcoin’s visibility has skyrocketed this year, according to data for Google searches and also Social Media activity.
Online searches for the term Bitcoin reached an all-time high this month, according to Google Trends data.
While the Google Trends score for this term hit 100 earlier in December, this score was as low as five during several weeks earlier this year.
The number of Social Media posts involving Bitcoin also hit a record high this month, according to data provided by social analytics company Crimson Hexagon.
Several analysts weighed in on the growing appreciation of the world’s largest digital currency by market capitalization.
“The top driving factor behind bitcoin’s price increase, especially in the last few months has been wider mainstream awareness and acceptance,” said Oliver Isaacs, cryptocurrency investor and influencer.
“Many well-known businesses have begun accepting bitcoins as a means of transaction,” he noted.
In addition, the cryptocurrency has benefited from “increased media coverage,” said Sheila Warren, head of the blockchain project at the World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Public figures and celebrities ranging from movie stars to heads of banks debated, discussed, and/or promoted bitcoin,” she stated.
Bitcoin’s substantial visibility has been a long time coming, said Trevor Gerszt, CEO of CoinIRA, a company that specializes in digital currency IRAs.
Cryptocurrencies were always going to take a while to gain mainstream acceptance. As the Bitcoin ecosystem began to mature and develop more customer-friendly ways to purchase, trade, and use Bitcoin, it gradually began to build the network effects that would be needed to establish it as a viable cryptocurrency. It just needed to hit that critical mass to really take off, and this year seems to be the year that that happened.
Source/More: Top 5 Factors Driving Bitcoin Higher This Year
