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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Bitcoin climbs over $2,300 in 12 hours, crosses $15,300

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LONDON: Bitcoin rocketed above $15,000 for the first time on Thursday, after adding more than $2,000 to its price in fewer than 12 hours. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has seen a more than fifteen-fold surge in its value since the start of the year.


It climbed to as high as $15,344 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, leaving it up more than 12 per cent on the day, having traded just above $13,000 12 hours earlier.


Many market-watchers said the launch this weekend of bitcoin futures by CBoE, one of the world’s biggest derivatives exchanges, was helping drive up the price on expectations it would draw more investors to the market.


“Futures trading will mean more demand... and is a form of ratification of the underlying tech — bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.


They are now on the main stage,” said Charles Hayter, founder of cryptocurrency data analysis firm Cryptocompare. But some are warning that the launch of bitcoin futures, which will allow investors to take speculative “short” positions on the cryptoccurrency, as well as “long” positions, could cause even greater volatility.


“Aggressive traders, such as hedge funds and algorithm-driven funds, (will be able) to use this futures market to enter bitcoin trading with high levels of liquidity for aggressive short-selling and knock the prices really low,” said Think Markets analyst Naeem Aslam. — Reuters


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