“If James Bond, Sergey Brin and Paul Volcker…designed their ideal currency, it might look a lot like bitcoin.”
(Credit: 123dartist/Shutterstock)Bitcoin’s price hit a record at $261 on the Bitstamp online exchange, driven by wider acceptance of the virtual currency.
The digital money, which can be used to pay for goods and services on the Internet, has risen 20-fold so far this year, as trading activity has increased. Bitcoins were trading at $259.02 apiece at 1:17 p.m. in New York on Bitstamp, one of the more active Web-based exchanges where Bitcoins are traded for dollars, euros and other currencies.
The rally comes a month after the closing of the “Silk Road Hidden Website,” where people could obtain drugs, guns and other illicit goods using Bitcoins. The virtual currency lost a third of its value in the days after the website was shut down. Bitcoins are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in China, said Ugo Egbunike, director of business development at IndexUniverse, an index-fund researcher.
“I thought Silk Road is going to do some damage to the price,” Egbunike said. “But with BTC China buying this up — they seem to have picked up the slack.”
BTC China is now the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Nicholas Colas, a ConvergEx Group analyst, wrote in a Nov. 5 report.
The virtual currency exists as software that’s designed to be untraceable…”
Exchanges
| Market | Last | Volume (24h) | Bid | Ask | High | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mtgoxUSD | 316.8110 | 87,486.39 | 316.51 | 318.49 | 324.20 | 266.00 |
| btcnCNY | 1912.9800 | 65,506.58 | 1913.30 | 1913.48 | 1919.99 | 1665.01 |
| bitstampUSD | 297.0100 | 51,193.33 | 296.00 | 297.02 | 299.12 | 264.67 |
| btceUSD | 286.5000 | 36,257.66 | 285.30 | 287.20 | 292.50 | 255.00 |
| mtgoxEUR | 237.0000 | 13,258.27 | 233.96 | 234.00 | 237.00 | 195.60 |
| btcdeEUR | 212.0000 | 3,530.09 | 216.12 | 220.00 | 251.97 | 185.00 |
| mtgoxJPY | 30487.2040 | 2,994.61 | 30500.00 | 31186.45 | 31650.00 | 25597.96 |
| bitcurexPLN | 900.0500 | 2,796.03 | 891.00 | 910.00 | 910.00 | 779.50 |
| mtgoxGBP | 200.0000 | 1,743.34 | 197.00 | 198.71 | 200.00 | 166.50 |
| btceRUR | 8900.0000 | 1,383.13 | 8870.00 | 8890.00 | 8998.99 | 7900.00 |
| virtexCAD | 293.0100 | 1,377.72 | 293.01 | 295.00 | 297.99 | 260.51 |
| mtgoxAUD | 334.0000 | 1,163.03 | 330.10 | 336.64 | 339.48 | 280.00 |
| localbtcGBP | 212.4600 | 1,041.78 | 211.54 | 137.40 | 1142.68 | 166.67 |
| cbxUSD | 284.9500 | 978.85 | 281.01 | 284.96 | 291.13 | 245.01 |
| localbtcUSD | 356.9800 | 880.74 | 1172.00 | 131.40 | 500.15 | 202.99 |
| mtgoxPLN | 978.0000 | 728.57 | 964.99 | 979.88 | 990.00 | 825.00 |
| btceEUR | 218.6770 | 674.37 | 216.50 | 218.34 | 222.93 | 185.00 |
| virwoxSLL | 70000.0000 | 418.72 | 68708.00 | 70000.00 | 70000.00 | 62337.00 |
| localbtcEUR | 217.8500 | 360.38 | 286.92 | 129.54 | 299.62 | 136.25 |
| mtgoxCAD | 334.5000 | 273.24 | 330.00 | 334.35 | 336.74 | 272.77 |
| kptnSEK | 1850.0000 | 252.13 | 1850.00 | 1889.50 | 1950.00 | 1731.73 |
| localbtcAUD | 314.1800 | 170.56 | 429.73 | 256.73 | 367.57 | 210.03 |
| mrcdBRL | 788.9900 | 154.78 | 752.74 | 788.99 | 797.15 | 671.00 |
| bitcurexEUR | 212.0000 | 133.52 | 209.00 | 212.00 | 225.01 | 190.00 |
| rockEUR | 217.9900 | 110.53 | 210.00 | 219.80 | 220.00 | 190.01 |
| localbtcCAD | 345.8800 | 92.40 | 341.58 | 295.00 | 369.57 | 257.56 |
| bitcashCZK | 6000.0000 | 85.81 | 5890.00 | 6000.00 | 6250.00 | 4850.00 |
| rippleXRP | 30999.0000 | 84.58 | 30502.00 | 31888.00 | 35453.94 | 30501.00 |
| bitnzNZD | 399.0000 | 82.53 | 366.00 | 399.90 | 400.00 | 320.00 |
| justNOK | 1839.0000 | 74.73 | 1718.00 | 1823.46 | 1839.00 | 1596.86 |
| btcmarketsAUD | 320.0000 | 49.63 | 295.00 | 320.00 | 320.00 | 257.00 |
| bit2cILS | 980.0000 | 47.63 | 980.00 | 1000.00 | 989.00 | 888.00 |
| mtgoxCHF | 284.0000 | 46.81 | 284.15 | 295.72 | 290.47 | 249.00 |
| fybsgSGD | 383.0000 | 34.44 | 350.00 | 375.00 | 384.00 | 316.50 |
| fybseSEK | 1800.0000 | 33.48 | 1800.00 | 1870.00 | 1870.00 | 1690.00 |
| mtgoxNZD | 378.1942 | 31.09 | 368.39 | 382.44 | 378.19 | 350.00 |
| mtgoxHKD | 2360.2646 | 20.13 | 2393.62 | 2491.22 | 2502.36 | 2315.00 |
| mtgoxCNY | 1840.0000 | 16.50 | 1881.10 | 1952.86 | 1964.94 | 1662.77 |
| crytrUSD | 282.9900 | 16.49 | 261.00 | 290.00 | 290.00 | 259.00 |
| justEUR | 202.0050 | 15.86 | 209.70 | 212.40 | 212.21 | 196.52 |
| bidxtrmPLN | 900.0000 | 15.60 | 854.59 | 940.00 | 940.50 | 789.99 |
| localbtcMXN | 4247.7400 | 14.20 | 4036.08 | 3982.99 | 4798.00 | 3540.81 |
| bitxZAR | 3180.0000 | 13.27 | 3180.00 | 3250.00 | 3420.00 | 3110.00 |
| localbtcINR | 18085.3200 | 13.24 | 18526.01 | 19289.79 | 18906.60 | 15580.39 |
| localbtcNOK | 1892.2400 | 12.71 | 1882.52 | 1936.54 | 1892.24 | 1580.99 |
| localbtcSGD | 297.5000 | 11.42 | 360.01 | 471.57 | 353.86 | 297.50 |
| mtgoxSEK | 2038.6310 | 10.98 | 2012.59 | 2089.33 | 2074.72 | 1822.68 |
| localbtcHKD | 1986.5500 | 10.27 | 2302.31 | 2455.72 | 2427.89 | 1986.55 |
| mtgoxSGD | 392.5262 | 9.87 | 383.95 | 399.60 | 392.53 | 364.28 |
| localbtcZAR | 4059.7400 | 9.72 | 3081.16 | 4118.38 | 4059.74 | 2771.29 |
| localbtcCHF | 263.7700 | 8.91 | 271.91 | 281.62 | 313.44 | 217.13 |
| localbtcARS | 2755.6600 | 8.70 | 2700.00 | 2756.99 | 2900.00 | 2495.00 |
| intrsngEUR | 215.0000 | 8.52 | 212.39 | 215.00 | 225.00 | 198.96 |
| justLTC | 30.0000 | 6.30 | 41.00 | 69.70 | 74.73 | 30.00 |
| localbtcBRL | 751.7500 | 5.49 | 706.99 | 763.23 | 758.02 | 657.78 |
| anxhkHKD | 2299.9474 | 4.87 | 2152.00 | 3100.00 | 2300.00 | 1858.00 |
| bitkonanUSD | 281.0000 | 4.58 | 280.01 | 348.00 | 426.00 | 269.00 |
| localbtcNZD | 435.0900 | 4.35 | 370.00 | 325.18 | 435.09 | 341.89 |
| mtgoxRUB | 9568.3347 | 3.69 | 9993.74 | 10401.07 | 10185.47 | 8642.51 |
| justUSD | 287.7700 | 3.31 | 282.60 | 305.62 | 287.77 | 259.32 |
| localbtcDKK | 1516.5400 | 3.00 | 1545.54 | 1780.26 | 1516.54 | 1516.54 |
| localbtcSEK | 1524.3500 | 2.96 | 2326.20 | 2068.46 | 1642.05 | 1524.35 |
| localbtcCZK | 4782.6800 | 2.93 | 5855.87 | 6387.74 | 5255.69 | 4765.67 |
| localbtcPLN | 946.4000 | 2.88 | 995.66 | 945.00 | 946.40 | 946.40 |
| rippleUSD | 259.0000 | 1.56 | 260.00 | 300.00 | 295.00 | 250.00 |
| localbtcRUB | 9583.9700 | 1.37 | 9577.25 | 9778.81 | 9667.79 | 9518.59 |
| justXRP | 29000.0000 | 1.07 | 29000.00 | 34900.00 | 35000.00 | 29000.00 |
| localbtcTHB | 8927.5200 | 1.00 | 9487.26 | 8396.13 | 8927.52 | 8927.52 |
| rockUSD | 280.0000 | 0.90 | 268.00 | 299.00 | 280.00 | 268.00 |
| crytrEUR | 207.0000 | 0.61 | 207.00 | 280.00 | 214.00 | 207.00 |
| intrsngGBP | 69.3600 | 0.05 | 68.94 | 69.36 | 69.36 | 69.36 |
