Bitcoin chalks up new record as it charges past $14,000

TIL Desk/Business/Singapore/ Bitcoin ploughed past USD 14,000 to a fresh record today as investors continued to pile in, triggering a warning the cryptocurrency was “like a charging train with no brakes” that would inevitably slip back. It touched a new high of USD 14,475 before slipping back to USD 14,328 in Asian afternoon trade.

The rally came just a day after the virtual currency, which has been used to buy everything from an ice cream to a pint of beer, hit the USD 12,000 mark for the first time.

Bitcoin — which came into being in 2009 as a bit of encrypted software and has no central bank backing it — has risen from a 2017 low of USD 752 in mid-January, and surged dramatically in the past month.

The increased interest has been driven by growing acceptance among traditional investors of an innovation once considered the preserve of computer nerds and financial experts.

US regulators last week cleared the way for Bitcoin futures to trade on major exchanges, including the world’s biggest futures centre the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).