Bitcoin climbed as much as 7.9 per cent on Thursday as it surged above US$14,000, extending this month’s advance to more than 40 per cent. The price of the cryptocurrency touched $14,399.99, a new record, according to Bloomberg pricing.
ASX, the main exchange operator for equities and derivatives in Australia, on Thursday said it will start using blockchain to process equity transactions. Blockchain is the ledger software that makes bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies possible, and Digital Asset Holdings, the startup run by former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Blythe Masters, will supply the technology.
Blythe Masters tells banks that blockchain will change everything.
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The latest price move will add to a chorus coming from naysayers who assert the speculative frenzy is an asset bubble waiting to pop. The largest cryptocurrency by market value has soared from less than $1,000 at the start of the year, up more than 1,300 per cent.
Cboe Global Markets has said it will start trading bitcoin futures on Dec. 10, while CME Group’s contracts are set to debut on Dec. 18. Nasdaq is planning to offer futures in 2018, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cantor Fitzgerald’s Cantor Exchange is creating a bitcoin derivative, and startup LedgerX already offers options.
Bitcoin was trading up 6 per cent at $14,111.17 as of 12:15 p.m. Tokyo time.