Bitcoin Breaks $12,000 Mark for 1st Time Since January 2018 - Trade DataCC0

The most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, surpassed the $12,000 on Wednesday for the first time since January 2018, according to trade data.

Cryptocurrency tracking website CoinMarketCap showed that as of 04:21 GMT on Wednesday, Bitcoin’s price saw a 9.55-percent growth to $12,246 over a 24-hour period.

According to Arseniy Poyarkov, a member of the Russian lower house council on digital economy, who heads the BiznesDrom analytic agency, the growth of Bitcoin's price was boosted by the news about the upcoming launch of the Facebook Libra virtual currency, unveiled earlier in June.

Bitcoin, created in 2008 became one of the largest currencies in the world. It was valued at less than $1 US in 2011, but after several explosive price hikes it grew over $20,000 in 2017. Last year, however, the price of the currency dropped several times settling below the $5,000 mark.