Bitcoin tops $4,000 for the first time in over a month

REUTERS/Mike Segar

A man wears a Bitcoin logo t-shirt on the floor of the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City, New York, U.S., May 16, 2018.

• Bitcoin has surged more than 10% since JPMorgan announced on Thursday that it would launch its own cryptocurrency, called "JPM Coin."
• Bitcoin touched an intraday high of $4,002.71 a coin on Tuesday, topping $4,000 for the first time in over month.
• Watch Bitcoin trade live.

Bitcoin hit a high of $4,002.71 a coin on Tuesday, just days after JPMorgan said it would launch its own cryptocurrency that was tied to the US dollar. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has surged by 10% to its highest level in more than a month following Thursday's announcement.

The largest US bank by assets said on Thursday that it had created and successfully tested a cryptocurrency that would have a value equivalent to one US dollar. The digital currency, called "JPM Coin," is based on blockchain technology and is intended to enable the "instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional accounts," CNBC first reported.

Investors in the digital-currency space saw prices explode higher in 2017 as cryptomania swept over the world. Bitcoin began 2017 worth less than $1,000 a coin before soaring more than 2,000% to a high of $19,511. However, the year of 2018 was a different story, with the cryptocurrency's value plunging by 70% to a low of $3,136 a coin.

Bitcoin was up 3% this year following Tuesday's spike.

Now read:

• Introducing 'JPM Coin': JPMorgan will be the first major US bank to launch its own cryptocurrency

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