Bitcoin price hits 3-year high, is it a reflection of value or market hype?

Beijing, December 14 (Reporter Zhang Xiaoxuan) According to China National Radio's "CNR News", after experiencing a sharp rise and fall a few years ago, the virtual currency "Bitcoin" has recently entered the so-called "bull market" again. On the 13th, data from the Bitcoin trading platform Huobi.com showed that the price of Bitcoin once exceeded 5,530 yuan, not only setting a new high for the year, but also breaking the highest record in about three years.

From the beginning of this year to yesterday, the price of Bitcoin has risen by more than 135%, more than doubling. The increase is more intuitive when described by the RMB price of Bitcoin on the trading platform - on January 1 this year, the opening price of Bitcoin was 2,759 yuan, and yesterday, the highest price of Bitcoin once reached 5,534 yuan.

Some analysts believe that this year can be seen as a new round of "bull market" for Bitcoin. Looking back on this year, the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed many times.

At the end of May this year, the price of Bitcoin had already seen a round of crazy growth. In the three days from May 27 to 29, the price of Bitcoin rose from about 2,950 yuan at the time to about 3,800 yuan, an increase of more than 25%. Then in mid-June, the price of Bitcoin once broke through the 5,000 yuan mark, which was already a record high since the beginning of 2014.

In recent months, the current round of Bitcoin's rise has attracted much attention. It is said that many investors have once again included the Internet virtual currency, which once soared and plummeted, in their attention.

According to Google Trends, the number of searches for the keyword "earn bitcoin" has continued to rise since September and has now reached an all-time high. Most of the searches come from the Philippines, India and the United States.

There are two main speculations about the so-called "bull market" of Bitcoin this year. The first is that the acceptance of virtual currency is increasing; the second is that economic and currency fluctuations in some countries and regions have prompted investors to flock to the Bitcoin market .

When Bitcoin was first created, the acceptance of virtual currency was considered one of the most controversial issues. Not only did people have many doubts about the security of Bitcoin in the Internet world, but they also worried that a highly capable hacker could make everyone's virtual property evaporate in an instant. The laws and policies of many countries were also not friendly to Bitcoin.

Now, as to the reasons for the positive trend of Bitcoin this year, Zhu Jiawei, chief operating officer of Bitcoin trading platform Huobi, believes that in recent times, the promotion of the concepts of blockchain and digital currency, changes in the domestic investment environment, and the development of Bitcoin's own applications have all created good conditions for Bitcoin investment.

In addition, at the policy level, some media have found that more and more countries and regions that previously had a "red light" on Bitcoin have begun to gradually accept the existence of Bitcoin and even discuss its legalization.

On the other hand, there are also many interpretations of the claim that economic and currency fluctuations have led investors to flock to the Bitcoin market. One investment concept here is that Bitcoin seems to have been considered a "safe haven investment" by many investors.

Bitcoin supporters believe that "this security lies not only in the design of Bitcoin itself, but also in the fact that Bitcoin cannot be abolished like legal tender or confiscated like gold."

For example, India and Venezuela recently announced the abolition of some of their legal currencies, and the enthusiasm of people in these two countries to buy Bitcoin has increased significantly.

Analyses supporting the "safe haven" argument also point out that in 2016, there were many events that caused global investors to flock to safe-haven investments, including the UK's Brexit referendum, the US presidential election, and the Italian constitutional referendum, all of which once caused violent fluctuations in the international market.