Such price increases may be simply a bubble (possibly a temporary bubble as we've seen in the past), but they may also be a sudden price adjustment. One explana

Such price increases may be simply a bubble (possibly a temporary bubble as we've seen in the past), but they may also be a sudden price adjustment. One explanation for such a price adjustment is an increase in the number and wealth of its users. The user base has moved from crypto enthusiasts to wealthy individuals, and now it seems to institutional investors with bitcoin futures going ahead. Such a thing didn't exist before 2009, so we don't have much to go on as far as how valuable it'll be. Cryptocurrency may not be pinned in value to anything tangible, but is useful and unique as an asset class for its ability to transfer ownership by virtual means. You can't store a bar of gold in your memory, and you can't send it through a computer. I believe its long term value is in how much people want money that has this property. Long term, a threat to Bitcoin's value is competing altcoins. Bitcoin is arguably a bad cryptocurrency at a technical level (high transaction fees, slow transactions, bad for the environment, etc.), it's difficult to use for commerce, but seems to be winning out against the others for now, maybe just by first mover advantage and established network effect.