Bitcoin surges past $3,000

Bitcoin valuation hit an all-time high of $3,000 per coin ending a roller-coaster week that started with the long-awaited split of the cryptocurrency.

Several exchanges, including popular destinations Coinbase and Kraken, valued a single bitcoin at over $3,000, an all-time high that was up $485 on the valuation a month ago. Earlier this month, Bitcoin shot past $2,000 for the first time in May and reached almost $3,000 in June only for the valuation to crash.

The last 12 hours saw, bitcoin value surge over 10 per cent as forked currency bitcoin cash saw its valuation crash by 30 per cent. At some exchanges including China's OkCoin bitcoin ruled over $3,200.

A major concern around the currency was uncertainty around the potential of a split. As some factions of the bitcoin community called for change to counter the slowing processing rates of bitcoin, a fork called bitcoin cash (Bcash) came into existence on 1 August.

Bcash duplicated the original bitcoin blockchain, meaning that anyone holding BTC was entitled to Bcash, but not all exchanges - including Coinbase, supported the forked currency from day one.

The lack of support drove customers to ditch Coinbase, and even threats of legal action, which finally made Coinbase change its mind and pledge to support Bcash withdrawals from customers by 1 January.

Meanwhile Bitcoin held up well against its offshoot rival in its wild first week of trading.

The new "bitcoin cash" was down 30 per cent today  to below $300, even as bitcoin edged higher and approached $2,900, tripling in value for the year.

According to digital currency enthusiasts, the decline in the last day could be attributed to an increase in exchanges accepting deposits of bitcoin cash.

Investors who held bitcoin on most exchanges as of Tuesday morning, at the time of the split should have automatically received the equivalent amount of bitcoin cash, according to commentators.