Bitcoin has cemented its glory year by hitting $20,000 barely a month after achieving five figures for the first time. After several weeks of considerable volatility, mixing rapid growth with sudden declines, momentum finally boosted Bitcoin to its new historic high.
Outperforming almost everyone’s expectations in 2017, Bitcoin prices received a decisive push from Wall Street regulated futures trading, as well as the imminent implementation of the Lightning Network. CBOE launched its Bitcoin futures product on Dec. 10, and CME (a much larger market) will begin trading the cryptocurrency’s futures on Monday, Dec. 18.