Bitcoin has been enjoying a continued upward trajectory of late. So much so, that its total market value now surpasses that of New Zealand’s economy.

Despite continued speculation of bitcoin’s rising value, with naysayers calling it a bubble, the digital currency maintained its march to higher prices over the weekend. On Sunday, bitcoin’s value rose to within touching distance of $12,000, at $11,858, pushing its market total to $198.2 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Such unprecedented highs now see the cryptocurrency’s value higher than that of country economies, data from the World Bank suggests. If bitcoin were a country, it would rank 47th, putting it ahead of Greece ($194.5 billion), the Czech Republic ($192.9 billion), Peru ($192 billion), Romania ($186.6 billion), and New Zealand ($185 billion).

Interestingly, the combined digital currency market cap, at $338.1 billion, would rank the market at 31st, ahead of Egypt ($336 billion), Hong Kong ($320 billion), Israel ($318 billion), Denmark ($306 billion), the Philippines ($304 billion), and Singapore ($296 billion).

Already the total market value of all digital currencies has surpassed those including Goldman Sachs ($94 billion), Visa ($251 billion), Wells Fargo ($276 billion), and the Bank of America ($293 billion). However, it remains to be seen when, and not if, the cryptocurrency market will steamroll past that of JPMorgan Chase at $363 billion.

This rise in bitcoin’s value is due to the announcement that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group are to launch their bitcoin futures contract on the 18th December. After receiving approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Terry Duffy, CME Group Chairman and CEO, said at the beginning of December, that:

“We are pleased to bring bitcoin futures to market after working closely with the CFTC and market participants to design a regulated offering that will provide investors with transparency, price discovery, and risk transfer capabilities.”

Nasdaq, the world’s second largest stock exchange by market capitalisation, has also revealed that it is aiming to launch a bitcoin futures in 2018. According to sources familiar with the situation, Nasdaq’s bitcoin futures contracts will be listed on Nasdaq Futures.

However, unlike the four indexes that bitcoin will be based on with CME, Nasdaq will, reportedly, base its bitcoin futures indexes on 50, making it more robust.

With the tide appearing to be turning for the better, bitcoin’s future looks good. It remains to be seen what 2018 will bring for the currency and what country economies the cryptocurrency will surpass next.