Bitcoin's journey from 2009 has been long and difficult, but over the last 6 months its dollar price has risen by nearly 100% - from $209.13 on August 24th to $403.74 on February 16th.



Although its popularity has essentially been increasing since the day it was launched, its value has been in recovery since the crash of 2013. The closing of dark net market The Silk Road and a number of other factors played a role in this. The good news is that because this hasn't reversed the currency's uptake, the market is stronger now than ever before and is unlikely to be exposed to such volatility again. Since January, 2015, its price has only been going up and this shows no sign of slowing down.



The Chinese market has played an important role in strengthening bitcoin. Data reveals that around 8 in 10 transactions involve Chinese Yuan. This is in spite of their government trying to ban the currency. The irony is that it's this very clampdown on personal financial rights that has driven citizens to use bitcoin, because it's essentially untraceable and anonymous. They can trade, make purchases and investments all over the world without interference and restrictions. The elusive Satoshi Nakamoto invented the technology for this very purpose.



China's impact can also be seen at the Asia based exchanges which have seen growth of 280% to 847% in just one year! In the western world the likes of BitStamp have also seen impressive growth, more than doubling from October 2014 to October 2015. More people are buying and selling BTC than ever.



Retail and service purchases in BTC are also on the rise, suggesting that people aren't just looking to make money trading but to use it as a day to day currency, the way it was always intended. BTC now accounts for $289 million in daily transactions, not that far behind PayPal's $397 million. Perhaps in the not too distant future more people will turn to bitcoin over PayPal to make payments.



User-friendliness will likely be the deciding factor in this and that's where the $469 million of venture capital already invested this year comes in to play. A large portion of this will be used by developers to create improved wallets, web interfaces and payment processors, so the general public can use the currency without having to be technical minded.



The ease of BitPay is already allowing merchants to accept BTC payments with no more hassle than a credit card. In fact they are charged just 1% of the transaction, which is less than credit cards. BTC can also be automatically converted in to a traditional currency so there's no manual storing and taking place.



70,000 transactions were recorded through BitPay in August, a new high for the payment processor, and as a whole over 100,000 merchants are now taking BTC payments, which is up from last year's 65,000 figure. Mega corporations like Expedia and Microsoft are on board, as well as online stores like TigerDirect and Overstock. Even physical retail stores, bars, cafes and restaurants are allowing payment in BTC through mobile apps.