Bitcoin, currently priced at $8,508 (£6,725) according to data site cryptocompare, is trading at 12-month highs after staging a dramatic price recovery since the beginning of April.
It hasn’t been lost on investors looking to reposition their portfolios for more uncertain economic times that bitcoin is the best-performing asset this year by some considerable margin, having risen 122% since January.
Only a small percentage of the UK population has bought bitcoin or any of the other cryptocurrencies, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.
Even among the 3% of consumers who have bought a cryptocurrency, there is a high degree of ignorance about what they are and how they work.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced the beginning of a consultation on cryptoassets. The consultation period ends on 5 April, with a view to a policy statement in the summer with possible legislation to follow.
The question of whether bitcoin could oust gold as the leading asset of choice for difficult times is one some investors are asking, as economic and geopolitical risks pile up and the search for safe havens continues, preferably in assets not correlated to equities.
Opinion is divided on cryptocurrencies, so is there value in bitcoin or should we focus on the technology behind it?
Gary MacFarlane takes a look a dominant theme for the year in the cryptocurrency space: the hunt for the next Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is down more than 25 per cent from its all-time highs, although over a month is still up 61 per cent.
Bitcoin has reached a new record high of $7,425, a return of 650 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Bitcoin bounced back from a dip earlier last week and briefly broke the $6,000 mark.
Bitcoin has slumped 30 per cent since hitting a peak of over $3,000 last month. Gary McFarlane explains the drivers behind the latest crash.