Bitcoin Surges to New Heights

Bitcoin market cap now bigger than RBS and Credit Suisse combined

Author:: Edward Hardy
Publish date:: Aug 14, 2017 8:31 AM EDT

Bitcoin prices surged to a fresh record high Monday as cash continues to pour into the cryptocurrency after a major exchange raised $100 billion in new funds and new rules look to speed transaction processing times.

Bitcoin prices were marked at $4,171.00 each on the Bitsmap exchange in London, just a few dollars shy of the record $4,182.00 the digital currency hit in early trading, a level that takes bitcoin's year-to-date gain to just under 320%. It also gives Bitcoin a theoretical "market capitalisation" of around $68.7 billion, based on the 16.5 million coins that have been verified by blockchain miners, a figure that would be larger than the value of Switzerland's UBS AG (UBS) - Get Report or the combined values of Credit Suisse Group (CS) - Get Report and the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) - Get Report .