Bitcoin Price Passes $750 as it Nears Five-Month High

The price of bitcoin is now trading above $750, its highest total in just under five months.

At press time, bitcoin prices were up 2% on the day's trading, and up $50 since the start of Monday's trading at 0:00 UTC.

Propelled by a sharp uptick earlier this week (in which the price spiked $30 in just one hour), the price of bitcoin is now nearing the 2016 highs it set in early June. According to data from the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), bitcoin is now trading at its highest mark since 20th June, when anticipation for bitcoin's decline in mining rewards was arguably at its peak.

In this case, however, the uptick may not be attributable to just one factor.

Bitcoin has been enjoying continually bullish sentiment among avid traders in past months, and there are increasing signs that its recent gains may have been sparked by exterior market forces.

For example, India has recently seen a ban on certain denominations of banknotes, a development that local bitcoin startups claim has bolstered business, though websites with public data (such as LocalBitcoins) indicate the effects are perhaps less clear.

At press time, the price of 1 BTC on India-based exchange Unocoin was 61,688 India rupees, or more than $900, a figure that boosts claims of strong local demand.

Other factors boosting the price could be the devaluation of China's yuan, which has suffered daily declines this week.

Also a possibility is a general warming sentiment about key technical improvements to the network, with code that could scale the bitcoin blockchain expected to roll out before the end of the year, potentially muting long-held concerns about transaction capacity.

Man blowing up balloon image via Shutterstock