'E-gold' bitcoin shines past $1,500

CHENNAI: Bitcoin surged into an all-time high territory last week as investors bet the digital currency will gain greater acceptance globally as an investment vehicle. The cryptocurrency crossed the $1,500 mark on Thursday and, besides a slip to $1,491 on Friday , it has remained above this mark till Sunday.

To give context, gold price as on Sunday was about $1,230 per ounce (around $39 per gram).The price of the yellow metal has not touched the $1,500 range in the last four years. Since 2013, when gold was in the $1,500-1,600 range, its price has been hovering around $1,200. The crypto currency , on the other hand, has been growing ever since it crossed the $1,000 mark in January this year.

"Today , one bitcoin is worth almost Rs 1 lakh. Last month, we saw some stagnation, which is the result of demand and supply pull. There is some amount of speculation involved as well," said Benson Samuel, CTO and co-founder, Coinsecure, a bitcoin exchange in India. The virtual currency exchange has over 1,50,000 users who trade on average 200 bitcoins daily . In the last month alone, they have seen 100 new users sign up.


The demonetisation drive by the government saw a lot of users looking at alternate modes of investment, with bitcoins being sought after. "Two years ago, I had to explain what a bitcoin is. Now, there is more adoption as a commodity," said Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder, Unocoin, backed by the likes of Blume Ventures, Boost VC and other international investors.

The acceptance of the crypto currency's legality by the Chinese and Japanese governments has come as a big boost.