GETTY Bitcoin price news: How much is bitcoin worth today? Will BTC keep improving?

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Bitcoin prices have shot up more than $500 in a 24-hour flurry of trades that have pushed the entire market up. Bitcoin increased by 3.3 percent in the space of an hour tonight, placing trades at $8,522.22 as of 9pm today. All cryptocurrencies have risen with the tide, with Ethereum going up by 7.74 percent to trade at $586.

Ripple bounced by 18 percent to trade close to $1 at 40.859. Bitcoin Cash is trading over $1,069, while Litecoin is trading at $149. The cryptocurrency market appears to have recovered from a torrid first quarter in which it lost more than 50 percent of its market value in three months. However, recent results will give BTC its first back-to-back weekly gain in 2018.

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Will BTC keep improving? Bitcoin has had some positive PR in recent weeks, pushing prices steadily up in late-April. Last week, an Islamic scholar declared bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies halal under Sharia Law, potentially opening up the market to 1.8 billion Muslims around the world. On Monday, IMF boss Christine Lagarde wrote a blogpost in which she detailed the benefits of bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology. Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee also asked traders in a poll where bitcoin will be by the mid-year. Results from the poll show 64 percent of traders seeing BTC prices soaring past $12,000.

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CRYPTO POLL: Final tally (thank you for voting!)... 64% see #BTC >$12,000 by mid-year. While we have no baseline (is this contrarian or confirming), multiple and growing arguments for why Bitcoin >$12K by Summer. Tax issue done. Headline risk fading. Major investor coming. https://t.co/8tuj8J1LjL — Thomas Lee (@fundstrat) April 19, 2018

In a tweet, Mr Lee said: “CRYPTO POLL: Final tally (thank you for voting!)... 64% see #BTC >$12,000 by mid-year. While we have no baseline (is this contrarian or confirming), multiple and growing arguments for why Bitcoin >$12K by Summer. Tax issue done. Headline risk fading. Major investor coming. Mr Lee has previously predicted that bitcoin will outstrip that price and reach $25,000 by the end of the year. Other crypto-advocates have also been singing the praises of the currency. John Pallanzani, a portfolio manager at Miller Value Partners, is calling for higher prices still. Mr Pallanzani said: “Tax selling is over, larger hedge funds have entered the market with deep pockets and strong hands, all positive signs.” Many cryptocurrency analysts attributed much of bitcoin's decline in the last two months to investors cashing out to pay taxes on last year's massive capital gains.