Update | Tequila shots greet bitcoin crossing US$10,000, but some fear coming hangover
Investors in Beijing and Hong Kong celebrate as the digital currency surpasses US$10,000, but while many think the rally has legs some are getting cold feet
It was a working day for most people but that did not matter at the Taco Bar in Beijing’s Sanlitun district, where a group of bitcoin investors knocked back tequila shots to celebrate the digital currency crossing the US$10,000 mark.
In Hong Kong, beer and wine flowed freely at a gathering in Soho as a group of bitcoin enthusiasts met to cheer on the rally, which has seen prices surge more than tenfold since the start of the year.
For bitcoin’s many followers, whether yesterday’s celebration will turn into today’s hangover depends largely on whether they give in to fear or respond to greed.
“Once it hit US$3,000 it was clear that this would go up fast,” said Leonhard Weese, president of the Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong, who attended the meetup in Soho. “I guess it will go up even faster from here until the bubble pops.”
After hitting US$10,000 Wednesday morning, bitcoin gained more than 4 per cent for the day.
Bitcoin is the most famous of the family of cryptocurrencies that has divided governments, central bankers and investors into opposing camps, with its proponents envisioning an alternative to, if not future replacement for, fiat money. Its critics are less sanguine, calling bitcoin the latest in a long line of speculative bubbles.