Bitcoin current dollar value

It’s been a torrid few days for bitcoin, the now globally known cryptocurrency. A price rally kicked off that has, over the past week, pushed the value of bitcoin up by around 25 percent.

Trading near the $580 mark, bitcoin is still down around 50 percent from its record, late-2013 highs, but the life that it’s showing could once again bolster consumer interest in the stuff. Interestingly, bitcoin transaction trading volume isn’t up. In fact, daily bitcoin transactions have settled into a consistent range of between 50, 000 and 75, 000 per day, according to Coinbase.

While transaction volume is flat, total traded bitcoin is up sharply on major exchanges. So, we’re seeing about the same number of transactions, with each trading event involving more bitcoin.

And, from the same source, a one-month price chart. See if you can spot the line-up:

The rally itself comes at a soul-searching moment for the bitcoin. A recently called the ‘Willy Report’ alleges that bot accounts on the Mt.Gox exchange led to massive price inflation last November, the month that saw bitcoin reach its all-time record highs.

Here’s he key excerpt from the report, detailing how the supposed bot ‘Willy’ executed massive transactions:

So basically, each time, (1) an account was created, (2) the account spent some very exact amount of USD to market-buy coins ($2, 500, 000 was most common), (3) a new account was created very shortly after. Repeat. In total, a staggering ~$112 million was spent to buy close to 270, 000 BTC – the bulk of which was bought in November. So if you were wondering how Bitcoin suddenly appreciated in value by a factor of 10 within the span of one month, well, this may be why. Not Chinese investors, not the Silkroad bust – these events may have contributed, but they may not have been main reason. But more on that later.