Bitcoin rally continues as price surges above $500

For the first time since late April, the price of bitcoin has crossed the $500 dollar mark. Only two days ago, bitcoin was lingering in the same $420 to $450 range it had held for nearly four weeks, only to begin a dramatic climb on Tuesday. Unlike previous gains, there’s no obvious reason for increasing price other than a vague sense of “optimism” following the Bitcoin2014 conference. With prices currently at $517 and rising, few people in the bitcoin community seem particularly concerned about the root causes of rally.

On Tuesday we considered some possible factors contributing to the rally, including the introduction of India’s first official exchange and the softening regulatory mood in the U.S. A variety of smaller stories, such as hints that the Mt.Gox disaster might be moving towards a partial resolution, and a break from increasingly bad news from the bitcoin community in China, could also be alleviating some of the downward pricing pressures of the last six months.

One uncontroversial factor in the price is the impact of increasing demand from the investment sector. With several bitcoin-backed securities such as the Bitcoin Investment Trust and the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust slated to hit the market by Q3, and major venture capital cash beginning to have an impact in the bitcoin startup world (Circle, BitPay, Coinbase), the demand for large amounts of bitcoin is clearly growing.