A bitcoin was worth $15,338 at 8.20 a.m. GMT on Tuesday.

The cryptocurrency is up more than 10%, recouping losses from the previous day.

Its value fell sharply last week and has been declining more modestly since.



The price of bitcoin surged more than 10% early Tuesday to $15,338, as the volatile cryptocurrency recouped losses from the previous day, according to data from Markets Insider.

The cryptocurrency had lost almost 2% of its value on Christmas Day. Bitcoin last week had plummeted from an all-time high of $19,843.

A bitcoin bought on January 1, 2017, has increased in value more than twelvefold, despite the late-December drop.

Here's the chart for Boxing Day morning:

The currency is difficult to value with any objective criteria, and traditional investors remain very wary of it.

Business Insider on Monday highlighted a note from investment analysts at Morgan Stanley suggesting that bitcoin may soon have a practical value of nothing.

The analyst James Faucette highlighted the tiny number and the middling number of retailers prepared to exchange bitcoin for actual goods as reasons for a potentially rocky future. Faucette said bitcoin was not like a currency or like gold and had difficulty scaling.