Earlier we noted that Bitcoins are up nearly 40 percent since Monday.

The chart below shows the surge.

bitcoincharts.com

We reached out to ConvergEx Group Chief Market Strategist Nick Colas, who wrote about the Bitcoin market recently in a note to clients, for his thoughts on why the virtual currency has gone so wild this week.

Colas says it looks like Bitcoins may finally be about to go mainstream:

My thought was that [the move this week] was a result of the CoinLab announcement of becoming Mt Gox’s partner in the US and Canada. Along with that comes the involvement of Silicon Valley Bank.

That’s a big thing potentially, because now we’re talking about a real US bank with all the AML and KYC regulations that will make Bitcoin much more relevant for legitimate transactions.

(AML refers to anti-money laundering and KYC refers to "know-your-customer.")

"That, combined with the currency’s limited growth (by design)," Colas tells us, "is the recipe for this kind of ramp."

The Mt. Gox-CoinLab partnership was announced Thursday and the full press release is included below.

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Mt. Gox & Coinlab Announce Strategic Partnership to Bolster American Presence, Celebrate $1/2 Billion per Year in Annualized Trades

TOKYO, JAPAN - February 28, 2013 Dear customers, Mt. Gox, the owner of the world’s dominant Bitcoin exchange, announced today that they have selected CoinLab as their exclusive partner in the United States and Canada. As of March 29, all US and Canadian customers currently transacting with Mt.Gox will transact through CoinLab, Inc. "This move will bring local product delivery, liquidity and customer service to a huge group of Bitcoin fanatics," said CEO of CoinLab, Peter Vessenes. "We're excited by, and awed at the responsibility we have caring for our over 100,000 new customers and over a half-billion dollars in annualized trade volume." Mt.Gox will continue to provide back-end exchange clearing services, and transition over handling of customer accounts, deposits, withdrawals, and other functions to CoinLab's US-based team. "This should be a huge win for everyone -- faster deposit and withdrawal times, easier-to-reach customer service, and better access for United States financial markets, market makers and liquidity providers" said Mark Karpeles, Managing Director of Mt.Gox. CoinLabs plans for the customer base? "Service, Service, Service. Oh, and also, Liquidity, Liquidity, Liquidity," said Vessenes. "Also, we're planning on launching some pro trading tools; we have some samples up for comment and review ahead of launch at http://coinlab.com/liquidity." Mt. Gox is the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, providing at least 80% of global bitcoin trading volume. It resides in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. CoinLab is the world's first US Venture-backed Bitcoin Company; it was funded in April 2012 by a group of progressive investors, including Tim Draper, Roger Ver, and Geoff Entress.

Regards

Mt.Gox Co. Ltd Team.

Mt.Gox Contact press@mtgox.com

Coinlab Contact Peter J. Vessenes, 855-LAB-COIN, peter@coinlab.com