Bitcoin is currently enjoying what politicos call a boomlet — a small bump that, while perhaps not impressive on a historical scale, is certainly notable. For bitcoin at the moment, this means a price spike that has put the cryptocurrency into its highest territory in a year.
That, combined with a small rise in global interest and what seems to be the highest transaction volume in history puts bitcoin in an interesting position. While it was originally assumed by many that bitcoin was doomed, or at least something that would never transcend niche status, those worries have certainly fallen short.
At the same time, bitcoin is only growing so quickly. Its transaction volume, an imperfect but useful metric, has been relatively flat recently, even around the time of the price fluctuations.
So things are mostly up, but at the same time, mostly inside the same constellation we’ve been surfing around for what now feels like ages. Let’s get to the charts:
Here’s the recent price spike in context:
Here’s the Google Trends data on search interest in bitcoin (note the final data point):
And the number of bitcoin transactions executed per day:
It’s never bad to note when things are strong. What I remain most curious about is a potential breakout moment for bitcoin or the lack of one. Will the digital monetary value store and transfer concept that is bitcoin grow at a measured pace until it is larger, or will it find something akin to exponential usage? There is certainly lots of capital behind the latter argument.
Regardless, this has been a Monday bitcoin update. TechCrunch is hosting a panel on the stuff in London next week. Tune in.