San Francisco
THE chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, has called bitcoin a fraud and made it clear that he will not allow his bank to begin trading the virtual currency any time soon.
But that has not stopped a growing wave of big Wall Street investors - many of them hedge funds - from pouring their money into bitcoin, helping extend an eight-month spike in its price.
The price of a single bitcoin climbed from below US$6,000 two weeks ago to above US$7,400 on Monday - more than it moved in its first seven years in existence. Since the beginning of the year, the value of bitcoin has jumped over 600 per cent, putting the combined value of all bitcoins at about US$120 billion.
The rise has...