At the end of February, bitcoins hit an all-time trading high of just over $33. That suddenly looks like chump change, with the value of bitcoins today moving past $100.

You can see nearly real-time changes in the value of bitcoins at Coinlab and track the currency's steady rise over the past month at Blockchain. We've seen the value go up and down today, fluctuating between $99 and $105. The new high is remarkable given that bitcoins were only worth about $13.50 at the beginning of this year.

The total value of the nearly 11 million bitcoins in circulation (its "market cap") has also soared past $1 billion, after being at less than $50 million one year ago:

The encrypted, peer-to-peer digital currency has gone through some rocky times, even within the past month. Three weeks ago, a technical glitch caused a selloff that dropped prices 23 percent to $37. But its rise this year has mostly been steady. Some have speculated that the financial crisis in Cyprus is behind it, but bitcoins have been gaining in value for months at least in part due to the success of Bitcoin gambling.