It has been something of a slow burn for Bitcoin since its open source release in 2009, with the price remaining fairly stable – in the hundreds of dollars – before its astonishing rise in the latter half of 2016 and throughout 2017, which saw it peak at just shy of $18,000 (£13,275) on 15 December 2017. For context, one Bitcoin could be purchased for $776 in December 2016 equating to a rise of 2,219%. In February 2011, it hit parity with the dollar for the first time. The rise has been steady.

In the case of Bitcoin alone, the market has reached a value of £133bn according to Blockchain.info (correct as of 25 January 2018), let alone the huge number of alternatives cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin.