Bitcoin saw a 7 percent surge today, as concerns of a Greek exit from the EU drove Greek depositors into the decentralized digital currency.
The web-based “cryptocurrency” was invented six years ago, and is unregulated by government or central banks, meaning its value fluctuates according to demand. Today’s price increase willl signal the currency’s longest winning streak in 18 months.
Joshua Scigala, co-founder of Vaultoro.com, a Bitcoin-gold exchange told Reuters that over the past two months of Greek negotiations, there had been a 124 percent increase in inflows from Greek IP addresses.
“Some people aren’t waiting for the government to figure out an exit plan and are doing it for themselves,” Scigala said. “You have people worrying about their families’ wealth or their life savings, and worrying that their money might be locked up in banks… they would rather hold money in a private asset like gold or bitcoin.”