Bitcoin price LIVE: Bitcoin soars past $3500 to hit new high - Latest news updates

BITCOIN has soared to a record high of over $3,500 today after a month of turmoil and a fork in the cryptocurrency last week.
The market cap of bitcoin has soared above $55billion, surpassing the GDP of Panama and Uruguay.
The bitcoin boom comes after the cryptocurrency narrowly avoided a crash last month and a group of miners forked off to create bitcoin cash on August 1.
Here is the latest Bitcoin price, live updates and breaking news. (All times BST)
The Segwit update is almost complete with only two blocks left to go before the block size limit is increased.
Social media users and bitcoin enthusiasts have already taken to Twitter to speculate about how the update might impact the cryptocurrency’s price.
One person suggested: “SegWit lock-in = more transactions per block = higher usability = more potential = higher confidence = price goes up.”
Another person was even confident enough to suggest that bitcoin could reach a groundbreaking $5,000 per token. These are of course purely speculative comments.
Others were less enthusiastic, believing that the update will force a price drop or make the token more volatile.
Segwit activation looms over Bitcoin
As of 5.36pm, the activation of the ’Segregated Witness' (SegWit) process, is nearing completion.
According to Segwit.co, 1,905 out 1,916 necessary blocks have been already processed.
Segwit is a process by which the bock size limit on a blockchain is increased. The process does so, by removing signature data from bitcoin transactions, which frees up space for more trades on the chain.
SEGWIT.CO
Bitcoin has dipped slightly, falling by 1.4 per cent overall so far today. Today's record high is $3,525.04 and today's low is $3,376.37.
Bitcoin opened at $3,431.97. Bitcoin closed at $3,431.97 on Tuesday after having reached a high of $3,451.855 yesterday.
A number of factors are likely to push the price of bitcoin higher this year, experts said.
Aurelien Menant, CEO of the Gatecoin cryptocurrency exchange, said: "Given the technology's move towards scalability, more institutional investors are now considering to allocate funds to bitcoin, which may be exciting the market."
CoinDesk said: “The scaling proposal called Segregated Witness (SegWit) is expected to lock-in on the bitcoin network today.
“Should enough miners continue signaling support, SegWit is projected to meet the necessary threshold later this afternoon (around block 479,708).
"And while it's theoretically possible miners could change their minds, it's unlikely they will – in short, miners have a huge financial incentive to enforce the change.”
Ronnie Moas, founder of financial research firm Standpoint Research, believes that traders have found confidence in the cryptocurrency.
”That's what supports the cryptocurrency right now, confidence,” he told CNBC.
“If there's something that shakes people's confidence in crypto then they will sell off. The further we get into this game the less likely you will get something like that.”
Matthew Newton, market analyst at the eToro trading platform, suggested that the introduction of bitcoin cash has boosted bitcoin.
"We've seen a lot of people selling their Bitcoin Cash in order to buy more Bitcoin," he said.
”On top of this, some investors sat on the sidelines last week, waiting to see what happened, these investors are now moving back into Bitcoin."
Bitgo software engineer and bitcoin investor Jameson Lopp tweeted: “A huge number of people (who actually know about Bitcoin) are still sure it's a scam. Let that sink in for a bit.”
He added: “47 nation state currencies stand in the way of Bitcoin attaining the position of #1 M1 money supply. Egypt will be the next to fall.”
Rodolfo Novak tweeted: Bitcoin's market cap just surpassed the GDP of Panama and Uruguay,now sitting above 78th. A few more pennies and it will pass Cost Rica."