A new coin by a prominent Austrian entrepreneur has surged to a new high of €5,000 on the world’s biggest crypto-exchange, as a growing number of people are buying its virtual currency.
BayerCoin, which is based on the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin, has reached a new all-time high of $8,500 on Bitstamp.
It is the second consecutive week the coin has reached the level, and is now trading at more than double its level of last week.
The price on the coin, which has traded for just under €4,000 (£3,600) since Monday, is a record for the crypto market.
Bild’s Mark Karpeles said that it had taken off in the past 24 hours, and that it was currently trading at $8.50 on the Coinmarketcap.com exchange.
“Bayer is now the second coin to reach a new record price on an exchange this week, after bitcoin, and it is still in its very early days,” he said.
“I would not be surprised if it becomes a new benchmark for any coin that is worth a lot of money.”
The coin has also been attracting attention for its digital properties, including the ability to send and receive money securely.
In recent weeks, the coin’s price has been on a steady decline, falling below the €5 threshold to just under $3,500 (£2,100) earlier this week.
“In the last 24 hours we have seen an increase of more than 25% on the Bitstamps prices, and we expect to see the price increase more significantly over the coming days,” Mr Karpes said.
The coin is based around a smart contract, a form of code that is executed by the blockchain.
“It is a very sophisticated piece of technology that we are trying to develop, but we also want to use it for other purposes, including for other uses, like for ecommerce, where it is being used for the payment of a lot more,” Mr Wiebes said.
Mr Karpels said that the currency is designed to facilitate the transaction of digital goods, like video games and music.
“We have the ability now to send money directly from the customer’s wallet to the customer, in the form of a digital token,” he explained.
“This allows us to send bitcoins, which are used for buying things from the marketplace, or from the store, without the need to go through a third party or a third-party exchanger.”
“The token is used to make payments for things like video game downloads, music downloads, or digital art downloads, and for other digital goods like books, DVDs, or music albums.”
He said that while the token is being traded on the Bitcoin market, it is not for the purpose of being used to buy anything.
“The only way that this coin could be used for this purpose is if you want to send a digital transaction to a merchant.
This token is for this very purpose.”
