CURRENCIES: Bitcoin Poised To Challenge Record After Recovering From Correction

Cryptocurrency just 1% shy of high set last week

The price of bitcoin made another run at a record high on Friday as the cryptocurrency bounced back from correction territory.

The price of one bitcoin rose 2.4% to $4,466.78 Friday, after touching an intraday high of $4,496.29. On Aug. 17, the cryptocurrency had touched a record high of $4,510.78, and proceeded to drop below $3,800 on Tuesday, a more than 15% slide, before turning around.

Bitcoin now carries a market cap of $73.81 billion, and demand for graphics processing cards used to mine for bitcoins has far outstripped supply (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nvidia-and-amd-are-deluged-with-orders-for-pc-graphics-cards-2017-08-24) from companies like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)

On Thursday, The Securities and Exchange Commission suspended trading (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sec-halts-trading-in-first-bitcoin-capital-shares-which-have-gained-more-than-6000-in-2017-2017-08-24)of shares of First Bitcoin Capital Corp. (BITCF), which have jumped more than 6,0000% this year alone, because of concerns about the accuracy of information about the Canadian company.

Ether, the cryptocurrency running on the Etherium network, saw its price rise 2.7% to $334.61, still off its high of $388.49 set on June 15. Ether has a market capitalization of about $31.48 billion.

The market cap of all cyptocurrencies again passed above the $150 billion mark (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-and-ether-rise-helping-take-crypto-space-above-150-billion-market-cap-2017-08-23) on Wednesday, and stood at $156.43 billion on Friday, according to Coinmarketcap.com (https://coinmarketcap.com/). By means of comparison, the closest S&P 500 index company with a market cap of that size is Walt Disney Co.(DIS)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 25, 2017 14:07 ET (18:07 GMT)