How Bitcoin Doubled Its Value In Less Than Two Months

The cryptocurrency bitcoin has had unprecedented growth recently. So we’re going to take a look at what’s helped bring it to nearly double its value in just a few short months.

At the end of March, bitcoin was valued at $935 and some change. By the same time in April, it had grown to about $1257 and change. May 11th saw the currency rise to over $1800 – a record high – before it fell off a bit. Today, it is valued at just over $1700.

So, you’re probably wondering how this happened. How did it do that in just two months? Well, everyone is always talking about the volatile nature of bitcoin and how one little piece of information can send it rocketing towards one extreme or the other. That’s exactly what happened. One country got the ball rolling and now there’s been a big rise in bitcoin’s value.

The first big announcement that got bitcoin going in the last couple of months was the passage and enactment of the Japan Virtual Currency Act. The Act legalized bitcoin as a currency in the country. Major retailers backed the law and have recently begun accepting bitcoin in their stores, retailers like Bic. The Japanese Yen has quickly built up a large part of the market, bolstering the value of the digital currency in a legitimate and more permanent way.

This is a complete 180 from just a few years ago, when the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, based out of Japan, went belly up. The bankruptcy of this market highlighted the need for regulation of virtual currencies in the country (and around the world but that’s another matter entirely). So Japanese lawmakers went to work and have found the solution in the Japan Virtual Currency Act. With the legalization of the cryptocurrency, many other countries are looking to follow suit.

One country, in particular, has made an about face in the light of recent developments. Following Japan’s example, a deputy finance minister in Russia, Alexey Moiseev, said that there is a big push to legitimize and legalize digital currencies such as bitcoin in Russia by 2018. The push for a regulated digital currency would help fight financial crime in the country, among other things.

“If there’s a transaction,” Moiseev said, “the people who facilitate it should understand from whom they bought and to whom they were selling, just like with bank operations.” He says the hope is that cryptocurrencies will eliminate problems like money laundering.

With such major players changing their tune, US exchange market Bats BZX exchange took advantage of the positive atmosphere. They filed a petition with the SEC to review their decision on making bitcoin an Exchange-traded Fund.

The original proposal came from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The twins had been trying to bring about a bitcoin ETF for a few years now and would have put the ETF on the Bats BZX exchange if their request had been granted. Their denied proposal in March of 2017 is actually what sent the price of BTC down from $1200 to $935. So it’s kind of poetic justice that the reevaluation of this proposal is what is helping to raise the price right now.

While there’s no way of knowing what the SEC will decide this time around, the petition has been accepted. The SEC is currently reviewing the proposal and the factors that led to their original decision, but there has been no timetable on when they’ll come out with a new decision. The issues that were raised before – bitcoin’s volatility, its lack of legitimacy – have changed since their previous hearings. We may not know what they will decide anytime soon, but speculators are optimistic. This is in stark contrast to the wholly negative atmosphere that surrounded the hearings in March.

The truth is, I have no idea. I’m not a financial expert. And it’s hard not to get excited and buy into the popular belief that BTC is going to keep rising in value. I mean, just look at what’s happened in the last couple of months – its value has nearly doubled. There is an air of optimism surrounding the entire currency that wasn’t there before or at least wasn’t quite this tangible.

It’s true, the currency has risen before, but nothing quite like this. The difference that I am seeing this time is that not nearly as many people are expecting the bottom to drop out like they did the last time. Where one word could send it bottoming out (like it did in March) there’s some legitimacy behind the currency now. That adds weight to it, taking some of the volatility out.

The cryptocurrency has made major moves towards legitimacy in major world markets, and speculators are taking this as a very good sign. Many investors are taking the virtual currency more seriously now because of it, becoming much more willing to work with the currency than they were before. And money tends to do what people think it will do, historically. Just look at the stock market – if people expect it to take a hit, it usually does. So with a more optimistic environment surrounding it, maybe bitcoin will continue to rise because people will continue to buy into it. Is bitcoin going to keep growing? Only time will tell. But experts at ReviewBitcoin.com believe that it might grow exponentially if more markets start legitimizing it, and that’s a good sign.