Bitcoin prices crosses $12,000 mark, total market cap tops $216 B

On Wednesday, cryptocurrency Bitcoin made a new high, with the price of one Bitcoin soaring above the $12,000 mark.

One Bitcoin was traded at $12, 622.02 at Luxemburg-based exchange, BitStamp.

According to Coindesk’s Bitcoin Price Index, the opening price of one Bitcoin was at $11,696.06, and it quickly soared to $12,798.78, the highest a Bitcoin has ever been priced.

With this update, according to Coinmarketcap.com, the total market capitalisation of Bitcoin has risen to $216.7 billion, up 8.58 percent in the last 24 hours. This is more than the market capitalisation of technology major IBM, which stands at $141.16 billion, and that of Walt Disney Co, which was at $said 156.18 billion.

The prices of Bitcoin have seen strong fluctuation in the past. On November 11, Bitcoin prices plummetted 29 percent from their record high of $7,882.

This month, Bitcoin took a step towards entering the financial mainstream, as the US regulator allowed two exchanges to start trading in Bitcoin-related contracts. The announcement was made by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

News reports suggest CME Group and CBOE Global Markets exchanges are expected to offer Bitcoin futures later this month. Just last week, news reports also said New York-based Nasdaq Inc plans to introduce Bitcoin futures next year.

Back in August, CBOE had announced that it partnered with Gemini, the Bitcoin exchange of the Winklevoss Brothers, along with plans to launch Bitcoin futures.

It was reported that CBOE will set its futures prices based on Gemini, while CME will set its prices based on the index calculated by taking four leading Bitcoin exchanges: Bitstamp, GDAX (from Coinbase), itBit, and Kraken.

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