Bitcoin is surging into Boxing Day

Markets Insider

• A bitcoin was worth $15,338 at 8.20 a.m. GMT on Boxing Day.
• The cryptocurrency is up more than 10%, recouping losses from the previous day.
• Its value has fallen sharply over the past week, and has been declining more modestly since.

The price of bitcoin surged more than 10% on Boxing Day to $15,338, as the volatile cryptocurrency recouped losses from the previous day, according to data from Markets Insider.

The cryptocurrency had lost almost 2% of its value on Christmas day. The movement was a modest lost after much sharper gains earlier in the week, when bitcoin plummeted from an all-time high of $19,843.

A bitcoin bought on January 1, 2017 has increased in value more than twelve-fold, despite the late December drop.

Here’s the chart for Boxing Day morning:

Markets Insider

The currency is difficult to value with any objective criteria, and traditional investors remain very wary of it.

Business Insider highlighted a note from investment analysts at Morgan Stanley, which suggested that bitcoin may soon have a practical value of nothing.

Analyst James Faucette highlighted the tiny number, and declining, number of retailers prepared to exchange bitcoin for actual goods, which could spell a rocky future. Faucette said bitcoin is not like a currency, it’s not like gold, and it has had difficulty scaling.