Editor's take: Bitcoin's resurgence is being felt throughout the cryptocurrency and finance industries. It's anyone's guess as to where the cryptocurrency is heading next. It's a lot like riding a roller coaster - you don't really know what's going to happen, you just hang on for the ride.

After hitting an all-time high of around $19,700 per in late 2017, the price of a single Bitcoin dipped sharply before bottoming out around $3,200 in December 2018. The volatile cryptocurrency got hot again over the summer and after riding a few peaks and valleys, it's been mostly full steam ahead ever since.

On mid December we reported Bitcoin had broken the $20,000 barrier, topping its all-time high value. It's been less than a month and as of this writing, Bitcoin is trading just north of $32,000.

One study about Bitcoin's 2017 run claimed it may have been the result of market manipulation.

Cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin specifically, have benefited from recent interest in investment and financial services companies. Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy bought an additional $175 million in Bitcoin back in September. In October, Square announced it was investing $50 million (around one percent of its total assets) in Bitcoin, saying it viewed the cryptocurrency as an instrument of economic empowerment. On November, PayPal started letting users in the US buy, hold and sell four specific cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

All in all, it's considered the this new boost has been driven by institutional buying. According to Yahoo Finance, Wall Street firms spent over $5 billion into digital asset funds in 2020. Between that and the pandemic, has resulted in a scenario where Bitcoin's scarcity has become evident and possibly inflated.

Image credit: SPF via Shutterstock, JeremyWord