The price of bitcoin has risen 1700% so far this year.

Some are calling it a bubble, but there are things that could send the price even higher.



Bitcoin has risen from less than one penny in 2010 to a price of about $17,000 as I write this. In 2017 alone, bitcoin's value has risen by more than 1,700%. So how big could the value of a bitcoin get?

Some experts have suggested that bitcoin could rise to $1 million or more, but let's look at what it might take to get bitcoin to a closer milestone of $100,000.

First, what would $100,000 bitcoin mean?

There are currently about 16.7 million bitcoins in circulation, so a $100,000 per-coin value implies a total valuation of $1.67 trillion for all bitcoins. This is certainly a large sum of money, but it isn't unattainable by any means.

For reference, the global money supply is estimated to be $84 trillion, and there is estimated to be $280 trillion of total wealth in the world. So if just 0.6% of all global wealth was stored in the form of bitcoin, it would translate to a $100,000 bitcoin price. This would be a big leap from the current value of bitcoin, but if the digital currency starts to gain serious traction, it's not outside the realm of possibilities.

With that in mind, here are four catalysts that could propel bitcoin from its current level of around $17,000 as of this writing to a six-figure price tag.