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Comment by lma21 | Hacker News Reader

Can someone please explain why the price has been increasing? I haven't properly followed any news behind bitcoin lately...

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Taking a wild guess I'd suppose increased political instability would be a driving factor some of them being:

* Britain, Brexit

* Italy, uncertainty around euro and leadership

* France, Presidential candidates are more aligned with Russian/Putin-values then earlier

* USA, Trump being elected to president as an outlier

These things will of course also drive political uncertainty in the rest of the world which will naturally put value of fiat currency in speculation, gold certificates are already sold at a much greater rate then available gold so bitcoin is a viable alternative.

Another explanation could be current lack of institutional investors in the bitcoin market, once BtC ETF's (stock traded funds) correlated to bitcoin value starts popping up there is a much higher likelyhood for institutions to enter the market. At this moment I only know of one, XBT in Sweden but the Winklevoss brothers are trying to open one up in the US.

My post may contain errors, if so please correct me.

As someone following Bitcoin I would mostly agree with this. While Bitcoin cannot be considered a proper (or in any way safe) alternative to Fiat I think it's growth highlights a dissatisfaction with central banking as more people become educated about it.

I thought also in countries like Venezuela and Argentina, where the local currencies are devaluating fast, they are using bitcoin as an easy way to get money exchanged.

For example : https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-miners-make-big-prof...

As I already said in another comment: Might have something to do with the demonization of the 500 and 1000 rupee bills. Which seems like another serious blow to the credibility of fiat money.

Bitcoin's price increase attributed to increasing Chinese demand for cryptocurrency according to interview with BTCC CEO Bobby Lee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3z-VXbk9_o

Can someone explain why volume is so low? Has speculation decreased dramatically with Bitcoin?

I think a large amount of speculation has moved off block into exchanges where it's harder to track.

Anecdotal, I know, but I've seen a uptick in ransomware aimed at very large organizations.

Maybe a week ago, news had it that a Liechtenstein bank had their customer info stolen by someone who's now threatening to expose tax dodgers unless paid 10% of each accounts balance, in Bitcoin.

Related? Who knows. This kind of noise is in the news all the time.

I would assume that people like to speculate with the currency. Since there is limited supply people expect the value to go up. As they buy it becomes a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy. (Also I assume the cost of mining is going up as well)

I will sell all my Bitcoins when politicians stop inflating fiat currencies...until then I won't work so that they can inflate all my money away.

What about ransomware? The variants I know usually have to be paid by Bitcoin.

Supply and demand.

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