While you may be smarting over the current Dollar/Rand or Euro/Rand exchange rate, spare a thought for those wanting to purchase a single Bitcoin.
The price of the digital cryptocurrency has this weekend surged to US$9602 — or just under R133 800 at the time of writing.
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That means that a single Bitcoin could buy a small family hatchback, around 130 return flights between London and Cape Town, or a Big Mac meal for every meal of the day for nearly three years.
The latest record-high price comes after the currency gained more than 17% this week, after it broke the US$9000 barrier on 26 November.
At present, the total cryptocurrency market cap sits at around US$300-billion or R4.17-trillion — this weekend marks the first breach of this particular barrier. Bitcoin accounts for more than 50% of this.
It’s also taken little over three weeks for the market cap to grow by a third, with US$200-billion first hit on 3 November.
Its nearest challenger, Ethereum, has a market cap of US$46-billion, trading around US$475 or just below R6500. It has seen a 31% spike in value over the past week.
Feature image: Jason Costanza via Flickr (CC BY 2.0, resized)
