Does it feel like the only time you hear about Bitcoin is when the price is either abruptly soaring or sinking? Us too!

This time it’s soaring. Bitcoin is up about 30% over the last month, and about 50% over the last 3 months. The current price is hovering right around $950. The last time it traded this close to $1,000 was in January 2014 when the price hit $1,023 – right before the giant Mt. Gox-related crash.

But this increase in price doesn’t seem to be the insane rapid fluctuations that are ever-so-common with Bitcoin. As you can see above – the 50% increase has been pretty stable, accelerating a bit around Christmas time.

And unlike recent fluctuations that were (at least loosely) tied to events like the halving or Bitcoin Core updates, this rally doesn’t seem to be caused by anything in particular. Sure, there is some general economic uncertainty in the world right now, but the stock market is doing well – and gold is even down, a commodity that at least usually trades parallel to Bitcoin.

So what’s causing it? No one knows for sure. Maybe it’s the usual hype that Bitcoin sees around Christmas time. Maybe it’s a delayed natural reaction from the halving – or maybe it’s just a sign that Bitcoin is doing better than people think it is.

One anecdotal sign that Bitcoin as a consumer spending product may have more legs than people think – Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky asked for product suggestions for 2017, and accepting Bitcoin payments was the number one most requested feature for the company.

I'm surprised by how popular this is in this thread (has overtaken loyalty program) — Brian Chesky (@bchesky) December 26, 2016

It will be interesting to see what 2017 holds for Bitcoin. While the general consensus was that Bitcoin as a consumer payments platform was dead (in favor of enterprise-focused solutions like custom Blockchains) that may not be the case anymore.

Either way, remember that Bitcoin does what Bitcoin does, and don’t ever buy or sell coins with the hope of making a quick buck – because you’ll probably lose it.