Investing.com - The price of the digital currency Bitcoin soared to record high on Wednesday, zooming above $11,000, less than a day after hitting the symbolic $10,000 threshold, despite growing fears over an asset bubble.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, Bitcoin was up more than 10% at $11,297 by 9:30AM ET (1430GMT), the highest level in its nine-year history.
William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, commented in a conference on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank was considering its own digital currency.
Dudley indicated that the Fed was exploring the idea of launching a digital currency, although he remained skeptical about the recent furor over Bitcoin, calling it a “speculative activity”.
Bitcoin, which started 2017 at about $1,000 and broke through $5,000 in October has risen nearly 1,000% so far this year as investors in the digital currency shrug off warnings of a bubble.
At current prices bitcoin has a total market capitalization of around $192 billion, exceeding that of Boeing (NYSE:BA), IBM (NYSE:IBM), MasterCard, Disney and McDonald’s.
Trade this year has been volatile even amid the big rally, with five separate corrections of more than 20% all giving way to subsequent rallies.
Bitcoin, which is known for sharp swings, has tended to rebound quickly from pullbacks.
The latest decline came earlier this month, when bitcoin fell more than 25% over a four day period before quickly recovering.
The price has been boosted by last month’s decision by CME Group (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:CME), the world's largest derivative exchange operator, to launch bitcoin futures by the end of the year in response to demand from some of its largest users.
The move has helped give the cryptocurrency legitimacy in the eyes of some traders, but analysts have warned that an asset bubble is building.