Cyprus just re-opened its banks Thursday after a two-week bank holiday meant to stave off major financial crisis. European Union authorities imposed unprecedented financial restrictions on the Mediterranean island nation and went to drastic measures—including flying in a plane-load of euros—to keep the bank afloat.

This week, several worldwide news outlets seem to be pushing (or at least floating) the idea that the economic crisis in Cyprus is fueling a rapid rise in Bitcoin, the Internet’s favorite virtual currency. Bitcoin is now trading around $88 to one bitcoin.

Here are a few examples:

Bitcoin watchers and financial experts aren't as convinced. While the two events may be happening simultaneously, there is little, if any, hard evidence to suggest that one event is fueling the other.

“If I was looking for a store of value, I'd buy gold, wouldn't I?” Edward Castronova, a professor of telecommunications, and an expert on virtual worlds and currencies, told Ars. “It's a hell of a lot safer than Bitcoin.”

So why is it rising?

Bitcoin’s surge didn’t just arrive out of nowhere: it’s come a long way in recent months. If you've been reading Ars lately, you already know that Bitcoin gambling is thriving. More recently, Bitcoin reached its previous all-time high, was hit by a major trading glitch, and has attracted the interest of the US government, which is now requiring it to comply with money-laundering laws.

One analyst who has been particularly pushing this Cyprus-Bitcoin theory has been Nick Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group.

“This is an entirely predictable and rational outcome for what’s happening in Cyprus,” he told Bloomberg Businessweek. “If you want to get a good sense of the stress European savers are feeling, just watch Bitcoin prices.”

Of course, earlier in March, before the Cypriot crisis got going, Colas also attributed Bitcoin’s rise to CoinBase’s partnership with Silicon Valley Bank. (Colas did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.)

UPDATE (8:33pm): Colas wrote back, pointing us to BitcoinCharts.com, saying that recent demand points to "ruble and euro" transactions. However, a glance at the chart also shows the highest volume remains in US dollars. Chinese renminbi transaction volume is also higher than Russian rubles, too. A spot check of other currencies also shows a recent similar rise.

"The US regulations certainly help make it feel more legitimate to US buyers," Colas e-mailed. "But there does seem to be a whole set of positive fundamentals at work."

“It's called gold.”

It's important to keep in mind that global financial markets were largely unconcerned about Cyprus until March 16, 2013. That's when the European Union and the International Monetary Fund announced a bailout package for Cyprus, which was contingent on the country raising money by levying taxes on its own bank account holders.

Since then, one entrepreneur put out a press release saying that he had an “intention” to build the first Bitcoin-based ATM in Cyprus. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence to suggest that will actually happen.

"Why would anyone trust an electronic form of money that could get hacked and then diluted into oblivion?" Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies, told CNBC. "We already have a form of money that is indestructible and whose supply cannot be increased by any government or individual decree. It's called gold."

What are the Spaniards and the Russians up to?

Another factor debunking this myth, experts point out that Cypriot bank accounts have been effectively frozen for the last two weeks. It’s highly unlikely that people in Cyprus were selling their euros for bitcoins.

“More likely, events in Cyprus dictate the expectations in Spain and other fragile Eurozone economies about how their crises will eventually be resolved,” wrote Eli Dourado, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, in an e-mail to Ars.

“If they fear that their bank balances will be confiscated, Spaniards may decide that it is worth experimenting with Bitcoin." Dourado continued. "The Daily Dot reported that downloads of Bitcoin apps skyrocketed in Spain a couple weeks ago. Another argument might be that Russian oligarchs, who use Cyprus as an offshore financial haven, could have started pouring some of their funds into Bitcoin."

After all, Dourado reasons, one of Bitcoin's defining features is pseudo-nymity (not pure anonymity), which would be attractive for an investor that wants to protect his or her identity. But there's still no hard evidence to suggest ordinary investors in Spain, Russia, or anywhere else have been driving Bitcoin's recent rise. Plus, Bitcoin's own history has been so volatile as-is, this recent bump may just be part of its natural trajectory. Dourado is quick to recognize the reality here.

“In any case, this is all (at best) informed speculation."