Bitcoin's Price is Inching Back Up Toward its 2016 High

Bitcoin prices rose on 7th December, once again moving toward their 2016 annual highs.

At press time, the price of bitcoin was up again around the $770-mark, a development that may be surprising given the news a major startup, Circle Internet Financial, would no longer provide customers with the ability to buy and sell the digital currency.

The announcement, made yesterday through The Wall Street Journal, has so far had little effect on the digital currency.

Bitcoin prices reached $768.32 at 20:15 UTC yesterday, coming within roughly 1.3% of the June annual high of $781.31, according to CoinDesk’s USD Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Even after rising to this daily high of near $770, bitcoin fell short of the five-month high of $778.14 reached 2nd December.

Circle had generated significant visibility for being one of the best-funded early bitcoin startups, raising $136m.

In June, the startup raised $60 million through a Series D funding round, a development that coincided with Circle announcing the creation of its China-based subsidiary, Circle China.

The firm has now said it will focus on a new proprietary blockchain-based protocol called Spark, an unreleased technology that will use bitcoin to move money across borders.