Bitcoin is now worth $9,000

Bitcoin bubble continues to grow reaching yet another new record high of $9,000 over the weekend, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

This continues a roughly eight-month winning streak for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which use decentralized ledgers and cryptographic security to move value over the internet. Since April 20, when it was worth just over $1,200, Bitcoin has risen nearly 650 percent.

The strong gains more or less put Bitcoin on a path to clear a value of $10,000 by the end of calendar year 2017, and potentially even more.

Bitcoin's amazing gains have helped drive the combined market value for all cryptocurrencies to yet another at new high of $285 billion. Bitcoin's market capitalization is now almost $151 billion.

Other cryptocurrencies like ether have also become very valuable, and the initial coin offering sector—a more or less totally unregulated form of investment vehicle for crypto-backed startups—took in billions of dollars in 2017.