Bitcoin Hits $9K

The value of a single bitcoin has hit $9,143, climbing nearly six points in the past 24 hours.

The cryptocurrency currently has a market cap north of $152 billion. At the pace it is moving, TechCrunch believes it is probably a matter of time before it reaches $10,000 at least.

When bitcoin hit $8,000 just six days ago, an earlier TechCrunch report made a strong case for the cryptocurrency hitting $10,000 by year’s end. And at this rate, it might be more relevant to wonder how close to $15,000 the cryptocurrency will get in 2017 before the rate of investment cools.

Bitcoin has its share of detractors, though. Earlier this month, the chief information officer of one of Asia’s largest banks, DBS, called bitcoin “a bit of a ponzi scheme.”

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said that “maybe bitcoin is a kind of a bubble,” adding: “I don’t like it. I’m not comfortable with it. I’m kind of an old dog to be absorbing that kind of a new trick.”

And JPMorgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, called the cryptocurrency “a fraud.” “The currency isn’t going to work,” the executive said. “You can’t have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart.”

In addition, governments around the globe – including Russia, China, the U.K. and the U.S. – have been warning about the risks associated with cryptocurrency. China has even cautioned about potential problems associated with initial coin offerings (ICOs), ultimately banning them. In late September, the Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCChina announced it was stopping all trades of the cryptocurrency.