(CoinDesk) The price of bitcoin spiked dramatically last night and the
transaction volume on the Bitcoin protocol (in USD) eclipsed that of
Western Union.
The spike took place after Jerry Brito, Patrick
Murck and Jeremy Allaire presented their testimonies on bitcoin and the
future of virtual currencies to the Homeland Security and Governmental
affairs committee in the US senate at the Senate hearing titled Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats and Promises of Virtual Currencies.
The CoinDesk BPI read $650 on conclusion of the hearings, with Mt. Gox reporting a jump to $750 and, later, BTC China reaching a record high of 6,989 CNY (approximately $1,147) before crashing to almost 60% of this value in seconds, and then recovering to about $850. At the time of writing, the CoinDesk BPI puts the price at $602.
The
senate hearing is being hailed as an historic moment for bitcoin, with
even Ben Bernanke, current chairman of the Federal Reserve remarking
that virtual currencies “may hold long term promise” in an open letter
to Senator Thomas Carper (D) published 12th November.
At the
hearing, Senator Carper listened to commentary, criticism and praise of
bitcoin with a temperament that left many in the bitcoin community
impressed and even delighted, whilst Jennifer Shaskey Calvery from
FinCEN was measured in her analysis and assessment of the promises and
threats that virtual currencies present.
This morning, data analysis website Coinometrics reported
that bitcoin passed Western Union in daily transaction volume,
transacting an average of $245m compared with Western Union’s estimated
$216m but is still behind on the average number of daily transactions at
approximately 62,000, with Western Union clocking up approximately
633,000 transactions per day by comparison.
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