Bitcoin Back to Life? Digital Currency's Price Briefly Hits $5,000 Mark

17 December 2017 saw Bitcoin’s $20,000 all-time record price high, which was then followed by the cryptocurrency’s steady downfall.

The price of Bitcoin increased by 20 per cent on Tuesday to briefly touch the $5,000 mark before settling at $4,730, in what became the cryptocurrency’s largest one-day gain since April 2018.

Two other large cryptocurrencies — Ethereum’s ether and Ripple’s XRP — also jumped higher, gaining by 5.9 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.

READ MORE: Analyst on Bitcoin: 'The Speculative Boom Has Certainly Burst'

It was not immediately clear what was behind the jump in virtual currency price tags on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

In April of last year, Bitcoin was trading at $9,340 on the Bitstamp platform, which, in turn, was a modest rise after its dramatic fall in January 2018 following its all-time high of $20,000 in December 2017.

READ MORE: Manipulated Data: 95 Percent of Bitcoin Trading is Fake — Study

Commenting on Bitcoin’s ups and downs, Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin said in November 2018 that even though the digital currency had already “deflated like a soap bubble”, it “gave a positive impetus” in terms of developing new technologies and businesses.