Bookmaker Paddy Power is seeking to cash in on the bitcoin publicity wave, offering odds of just 9/4 on the virtual currency being worth more than $500 a pop by the end of the year.

Bitcoin has seen its value shoot up more than 70% so far this year, leaving the notoriously volatile currency currently trading at around $72.



Paddy Power is betting that the value will continue to rise, with the 9/4 odds on more than $500 far shorter than the 9/1 being offered for a price of $100 or less by the end of the year. Anything in-between - $101 to $500 - is available for an unappealing 2/5.



Meanwhile, the bookie is offering 16/1 that bitcoin will become legal tender in any country by the end of 2017 and 100/1 that troubled Cyprus will use it as the national currency by the end of 2017.



Punters can also speculate on the nationality of 'Satoshi Nakamoto' - the pseudonymous person or group of boffins who launched the Bitcoin network in 2009. Japan is the current runaway favourite, ahead of the US, China and the UK.



A Paddy Power spokesperson says: "Admittedly Bitcoins are a bit confusing, but their value seems only to be heading northwards." Although, alluding to news that a Canadian man is trying to sell his bungalow for bitcoins, he adds: "Not sure you'd put your house on it though."



Equally, as Finextra friend Dave Birch remarks on Twitter: "This is completely stupid. Why would you take odds of 9/4 instead of just buying the Bitcoins?"