{"id":211487,"date":"2017-11-20T08:17:51","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T06:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=211487"},"modified":"2017-11-20T08:17:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T06:17:51","slug":"bitcoin-reaches-8000-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/211487\/bitcoin-reaches-8000-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin reaches $8,000 for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Bitcoin topped $8,000 for the first time, as investors set aside technology concerns that had derailed its advance earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin rose 4.8% to $8,071.05 as of 7:17 a.m. Sydney time on Monday. It\u2019s now up more than 700% this year after shrugging off a tumble of as much as 29% earlier this month. It\u2019s been a tumultuous year for the largest cryptocurrency, with three separate slumps of more than 25% in value all giving way to subsequent rallies.<\/p>\n<p>Even as many skeptics call the asset a bubble waiting to pop, it\u2019s becoming too big for many on Wall Street to ignore. The digital currency is gaining the acceptance of professional investors, with CME Group Inc, the world\u2019s biggest exchange, poised to start offering futures trading on bitcoin next month.<\/p>\n<p>Click here for an explanation of the technology behind the bitcoin and bitcoin cash fork<\/p>\n<p>Recent volatility has also stemmed from a pickup in people switching to alternative virtual currencies, notably, Bitcoin cash. That\u2019s gaining popularity due to lower transaction cost and faster speed.<\/p>\n<p>New cryptocurrency\u00a0iterations are springing up as disagreements over bitcoin\u2019s design persist and opportunities for making a quick buck prove hard to pass up.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bitcoin-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-211489\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bitcoin-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bitcoin-2.png 1200w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bitcoin-2-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bitcoin-2-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bitcoin-2-1024x576.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/210667\/thousands-of-bitcoin-being-traded-in-south-africa-every-week\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thousands of Bitcoin being traded in South Africa every week<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitcoin topped $8,000 for the first time, as investors set aside technology concerns that had derailed its advance earlier this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":208605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[5537],"class_list":["post-211487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-bitcoin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211491,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211487\/revisions\/211491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}