Depending on who you ask, you can get an incredibly wide range of opinions on bitcoin. What cannot be denied is the astonishing run the largest cryptocurrency has had this year. Bitcoin is up a jaw-dropping 1,630% year to date; at this writing, one bitcoin trades for $14,798. Of course, by the time you read this it could be worth $1,000 or $100,000, or anywhere in between. The only thing more noticeable than bitcoin's meteoric rise this year has been the extreme volatility the price has seen along the way.
For those still a little confused (yes, I'm raising my hand too), bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. OxfordDictionaries.com simply but helpfully defines a cryptocurrency as "a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank." Think of it as a digital currency that does not need an intermediary to store or complete transactions.
Bitcoin is powered by blockchain technology. Image source: Getty Images.
Source: Fool.com