Since the beginning of the year, the value of Bitcoin has climbed 600 percent, fueled in part by interest from institutional investors.
SAN FRANCISCO — The chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, has called Bitcoin a fraud and made it clear that he will not allow his bank to begin trading the virtual currency any time soon.
But that has not stopped a growing wave of big Wall Street investors — many of them hedge funds — from pouring their money into Bitcoin, helping extend an eight-month spike in its price.
The price of a single Bitcoin climbed from below $6,000 two weeks ago to above $7,400 on Monday, more than it moved in the virtual currency’s first seven years in existence.
Since the beginning of the year, the value of Bitcoin has jumped over 600 percent, putting the combined value of all Bitcoin at about $120 billion, or more than many of the largest banks in the world.
The rise has been fueled by several factors, including the sudden interest in virtual currencies from small investors in Japan and South Korea.
Now market watchers say a significant amount of the new money is coming from large institutional investors, many of them hedge funds looking to capitalize on the skyrocketing price.
Source/More: Hedge Funds Push the Price of Bitcoin to New Highs – The New York Times
