Bitcoin

yen and an investment such as gold, stocks or bonds. Skeptics say it is impossible to value, wildly volatile and a speculative play that may never gain widespread acceptance.

The bullish thesis has gotten a boost recently after a U.S. security regulator gave the OK for options exchanges to launch bitcoin futures. Sunday, the Chicago Board Options Exchange is set to become the first regulated U.S. exchange to offer Bitcoin futures trading. The move is seen as helping legitimize Bitcoin and paving the way for greater acceptance from large institutional investors. Another plank in the bull’s case is that there will be a limited number — 21 million — created. Bitcoin works off blockchain technology, akin to an anonymous digital ledger not regulated by governments or financial institutions.

Bitcoin, valued at $270.6 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, is nearly one-third the value of Apple, the world’s most valuable company, which was worth $867.8 billion as of Wednesday’s close, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“The Bitcoin rush is not over,” Yann Quelenn, analyst at Swissquote Bank, an online bank in Switzerland, told USA TODAY via email. “Sheer greed is driving the cryptocurrency higher, perhaps to $20,000 by Christmas.”