Bitcoin: Bulls unstoppable, jumps beyond $ 14000 mark

The relentless rise in Bitcoin, (BTC/USD) the world’s largest cryptocurrency appears unstoppable, with the bulls extending the ongoing rally beyond $ 14,500 for the first time ever. The prices are up more than 20% in the last 24 hours, with the market capitalization increasing to $ 245.16 billion. The latest upsurge from the $ 12000 mark reverses the 20% plunge seen last week

 Markets continue to buy into the frenzy, as they still believe that there is further upside to the rally and the prices could reach the $ 20k mark, especially in response to the reports that the Bitcoin futures will be listed by the CME Group and CBOE Global Markets later this month. The addition of bitcoin futures by two respected exchanges would mark another step towards establishing the digital currency as a legitimate asset class.

bitFlyer COO Bartek Ringwelski noted: "While we launched [in the U.S.] just a week ago, bitFlyer has already seen strong interest from institutions looking to gain exposure to bitcoin. We're glad to have expanded to the US at this time with so much interest due to the impending Bitcoin futures launches." The Tokyo-based digital currency exchange is the largest in the world by trading volume and announced last week it received a "BitLicense" to operate in New York, according to CNBC.

The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrencies sits within the striking distance of the $ 400 billion mark at $ 393.20 billion, with Bitcoin’s accounting for almost 62% of the overall market cap.