Bitcoin is on course to break $11,000, just hours after passing $10,000 for the first time

Bitcoin passed $10,000 for the first time on Tuesday evening.
Cryptocurrency already closing in on $11,000.

LONDON — The price of bitcoin is leaping after passing the symbolically significant level of $10,000 on Tuesday evening.

Bitcoin passed $10,000 per coin at around 6.30 p.m. GMT (1.30 p.m ET) on Tuesday after flirting with the level all day. The level was seen as symbolically significant and, now it's passed $10,000, the price is motoring.

Bitcoin is up 8.2% to $10,789.46 at 10.05 a.m. GMT (5.05 a.m. ET). bitcoin

Charles Hayter, the CEO of CryptoCompare, called breaching the $10,000 level a "seminal moment" for the cryptocurrency.

He said in an email: "$10k represents the closing of the second cycle in Bitcoin which has drawn the interest of institutional investors who have so far been constrained from trading by their remits. This is starting to change as more sophisticated and regulated instruments are made available. This will lead to Bitcoins third cycle."

Mati Greenspan, an analyst with trading platform eToro who follows the crypto space closely, said in an email: "Wall Street's resident bitcoin buff Mike Novogratz has moved his target to $40,000 by the end of 2018, stating that not only is this a bubble but that the bubble is going to get a lot bigger from here due to the global nature of this unique asset.

"Whether it is indeed a bubble or something else entirely remains to be seen. What I can tell you from my conversations with clients is that more and more people are starting to see bitcoin as money and the potential to replace the current fiat central banking system that has gotten out of hand."

Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency space, Litecoin, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by value, has reached a new all-time high of $103.46 overnight.

The entire cryptocurrency market is now worth over $330 billion, just two days after passing $300 billion for the first time. The market has rallied hugely this year despite some people warning that the market is in a bubble.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Gary Shilling: Here's how I'd fix the Fed