Bitcoin mania has been sweeping the TV, newspapers and social media recently, as the price of Bitcoin has shot through the roof.
As the Cyprus situation unfolded, and depositors unusually found themselves in the firing line, demand for gold bullion soared across Europe. At the same time, even more noticably, the price of Bitcoin starting going parabolic.
Even now a few weeks on we regularly see the price of Bitcoin jumping by more than 20% in a day. The best charts can be found at bitcoincharts.com. The world's largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt.Gox, now claims to handle over 80% of Bitcoin trading and has been reporting some stunning numbers.
In recent months Mt.Gox registrations have surged with 60k in March alone, and a backlog of 14,00 to process as I write this. This exchange executed 420k transactions with a notional value of US$121m last month alone. Not a bad niche market to own for the entrepreneurs behind it.
Amidst all this Bitcoin clamour it does all feel a bit Tech-bubble 2.0. It is indeed a tiny market, at about one fiftieth the size of the relatively tiny physical silver market, so there is plenty of scope for further capital inflows. It is also true that little leverage is being deployed in this price action, given that the major Bitcoin exchanges do not offer financing and traders participate on a fully-paid up basis.
We're running an investor poll on Bitcoin, which is certainly dividing opinion. Have your say in the poll here.