Bitcoin heads for $10,000 mark even as executives and capitalists stay sceptical

Bitcoin is showing no signs of slowing down, blowing past US$9,000 less than a week after topping $8,000 and now quickly closing in on five big figures.

The price of the largest cryptocurrency by market value is soaring as it gains greater mainstream attention despite warnings of a bubble in what not everyone agrees is an asset. From Wall Street executives to venture capitalists, observers have been weighing in.

“Bitcoin has seen another frenzy of buying as the fear of missing out trade bites even harder,” analysts at IG Group, a trading-platform operator, wrote in a note yesterday. “There are others who see downside risks from the introduction of bitcoin futures,” they wrote.

The surge has swept along individual investors. The number of accounts at Coinbase, one of the largest platforms for trading bitcoin has almost tripled to 13 million in the past year, according to Bespoke Investment.

Bitcoin climbed as high as a record $9,720.95 yesterday, and was recently up about 16 per cent compared with trading late on Friday.

Bitcoin’s surge in value is forcing Wall Street banks to balance clients’ interest in speculating on the cryptocurrency with executives’ scepticism about its future.

JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has been one of bitcoin’s most prominent detractors, calling it a fraud and deriding buyers as “stupid”.

The total market cap of digital currencies now sits north of $300 billion, according to Coinmarketcap.com’s website.