© Reuters. Bitcoin Prices Extend Breathtaking Rally Above $20,000

Investing.com - The price of the digital currency Bitcoin soared to another record high on Sunday, zooming above the $20,000-level, despite worries about a dangerous bubble and questions about the cryptocurrency's real value.

, which trades 24 hours a day and seven days a week, climbed as high as $20,029 on the China-based OKCoin exchange, the most in its nine-year history.

That said, there are often significant price differentials on different bitcoin exchanges, but most showed the cryptocurrency well above the $19,000-mark and flirting with the $20K-level.

At current prices, Bitcoin has a total market capitalization of around $330 billion.

Bitcoin investors expect futures volumes to perk up when CME Group (NASDAQ: ), the world's largest derivatives exchange operator, launches its own contract to wager on the cryptocurrency .

The second U.S. bitcoin futures launch is seen as another step towards big institutional investors warming up to a volatile asset that had until recently been accessible only via largely unregulated markets.

Last week, the Chicago-based CBOE Global Markets was the first to launch trading in futures of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin, which started 2017 at about $1,000, has risen almost 2,000% so far this year, prompting analysts to warn of a growing asset bubble.

Besides Bitcoin, there are that have enjoyed a remarkable run-up in prices so far this year, such as , , , , and .