Bitcoin Is In The Middle Of A Melt-Up

Bitcoin prices have climbed 47% in the past two weeks, now clocking in at $664.58 on Coindesk.

"Generally speaking, lots of good news, no bad news and very strong technicals from a trading perspective," SecondMarket's Barry Silbert said in email of the melt up.

Among likely drivers, he said, were DISH's announcement that subscribers could pay their TV bills in Bitcoin, making it the largest firm by market cap to accept the digital currency; Apple's apparent decision to welcome back Bitcoin wallet apps; and bullishness surrounding recent investments in Bitcoin firms like BitPay, which just raised $30 million.

It also may simply be what has now emerged as a standard Bitcoin trading pattern - "bubble, correction, consolidation, price increase; rinse and repeat," Silbert said.

It's always important to take Bitcoin price movements with a grain of salt - over the course of two weeks this past spring, for instance, prices fell 37% to $360. There remain a host of vulnerabilities out there that could derail the rally.

But for now the trend is clear. Here's the chart:

Coindesk