Bitcoin surges past 2,000 US dollars for the first time

The world’s most popular cryptocurrency is now worth over 2,000 US dollars per coin for the first time, an all-time high, according to a range of bitcoin exchanges.

The currency's price reached 2,061 US dollars per coin on Saturday, with the trend continuing on Sunday, keeping itself above the 2,040 US dollar mark. The cryptocurrency rose by more than 100 percent since the beginning of this year. It was just 935.95 US dollars at the end of March.

The valuation puts the world's most popular cryptocurrency's market capitalization to around 30.92 billion US dollars, with its valuation continuing to grow in 2017.

Screen-grab of Bitcoin performance in the past three months. /Coindesk Photo

The surge was driven by rising influence of Japan in the bitcoin market. The Japanese Yen is the single largest currency being exchanged for bitcoin, according to CryptoCompare data. It came after the country formally recognized bitcoin as a legal way of payment. The US dollar came in at a distant second, according to their data.

Investor Guo Hongcai with three years of bitcoin investment history, told CCTV2, the financial channel of CCTV, that Chinese calculation power is accounting for more than 75 percent in world's bitcoin calculation power, meaning more than 75 percent of bitcoins are produced by China.

When the,"Wanna Cry" ransomware wreaked havoc across the world, victims were instructed to pay via bitcoins, which are electronic and hard to track.

WannaCry broke out on May 12, demanding a ransom payment of digital currency bitcoin worth from 300-600 US dollars.

CFP Photo

The digital payment system is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary and can be made anonymously. That's why cyber attackers prefer to choose the cryptocurrency for hacked computer users to pay the ransom.

China is trying to strengthen regulations for the influential but unpredictable currency, and two regulations will be released in June by China's central bank PBOC.