Following huge losses sustained last week, the value of bitcoin has surged, recovering over $2,000 since Sunday. The world’s most popular virtual currency has shown resilience despite continued skepticism over the bitcoin phenomenon.
According to data provided by CoinMarketCap, bitcoin traded at $7506.14 at 11:22am GMT, fixing a daily gain of over seven percent. The cryptocurrency began the year below $1,000 per token.
On Sunday, bitcoin plunged as low as $5,519, marking a 30 percent drop from the record high of $7,882. The correction came as people behind the cryptocurrency considered changes to the software aimed at speeding up transactions on the bitcoin network. The measure, called SegWit2x, was suspended but managed to evoke a massive selloff among cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Although bitcoin has been picking up steam over this week, some analysts still remain skeptical over the leading digital currency. However, the bitcoin phenomenon is not going away overnight, according to Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO James Gorman.
“Something that goes up 700 percent in a year — it’s by definition speculative. So anybody who thinks they’re buying something that it’s a stable investment is deluding themselves. It might go up another 700 percent, but it could easily not,” Gorman told CNBC.
The billionaire investor and chairman of Interactive Brokers, Thomas Peterffy, has called for keeping bitcoin from the real economy. The businessman stressed he never opposed trading the cryptocurrency.
“I think bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are great ideas. They should be allowed to be traded freely and used freely to find their appropriate role in the economy,” Peterffy said as quoted by the media.
“What I am objecting to is linking bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by federal regulations to the real economy, which would happen if we were to clear bitcoin along with other products in the same trading house,” he added.
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