04 Mar 2014 / Forbes (Kitco News) – The Bitcoin market has been able to move past the uncertainty created by the closure of one of the biggest Bitcoin exchanges in what one expert said is a natural process of a maturing marketplace.
The price of one Bitcoin was close to hitting a three-week high Monday and has managed to recover all of its losses since problems with the MtGox exchange came to a head last week.
According to the aggregated price chart on Kitco.com, the price of one Bitcoin soared to a session high of $701.32 per coin, a gain of 57% from last week’s low of $445.92 per unit. As of 4:35 p.m. the price has fallen from its session highs and is currently trading at $660.47 per unit.
Last week’ low also coincided with MtGox’s website going offline; however, trading on the exchange had been disrupted since early February. On Friday, MtGox officially filed for bankruptcy in Japan and said in its statement that 850,000 Bitcoins disappeared from its website; however by then the price was already starting to recover.
Eric Spano, director of finance at the Bitcoin Embassy in Montreal and a director of the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada, said Monday’s rally is due to the fact that investors are starting to realize that the cryptocurrency itself is different from the exchanges.
“Any issues these companies may be having are not necessarily rated to the Bitcoin protocol or the network itself,” he said.
He said now that the dust is starting to settle, people are getting excited about the virtual currency again as the industry shifts its focus to prove to people and customers that the currency is secure. He added that ultimately the exchange wasn’t fully prepared as the market rapidly expanded….. Read more
