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Bitcoin value surges as British pound tanks on Brexit

Bitcoin value surges as British pound tanks on Brexit

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Britain's decision to exit the EU has predictably shocked global currency markets. The pound has dropped around 10 percent against the dollar, a 30-year low as the market reacts to uncertainty over the UK's vote. While traditional currency markets react to the news, cryptocurrency bitcoin has started to surge in price. Bitcoin dropped to a weekly low of $550 yesterday, but it has passed the $650 mark today.

That's still far off the two-year high of $719 from earlier this month, but the volatile currency appears to be spiking thanks to Brexit. The price of bitcoin has been fluctuating wildly recently, due to a number of factors. Earlier this week, Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange Bitfinex was knocked offline for a few hours due to networking problems. Opinion polls over Britain's position in the EU also saw Bitcoin price fluctuations, and the uncertainty around Britain's referendum affected China's yuan as it hit a five-year low last week. A large amount of bitcoin trading occurs in China, so any yuan changes will have an effect on the price of bitcoin.

Bitcoin price euref

Bitcoin price over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin's climb alongside a Brexit vote has led some to declare it as a safe haven for investors. Predictably, the price of gold has spiked this morning as investors buy up traditional safety assets. Bitcoin is clearly rising alongside gold, but it's still far too early to declare it a new safe haven for investors. Quartz points out that all the bitcoin in circulation is worth around $10.6 billion, a small amount compared to the trillions of dollars that pass through foreign exchange markets every day.

Gold price euref

Gold price over the past 24 hours.