Philipp Guelland/Getty Images

Bitcoin’s weekend surge continues full steam ahead.

The cryptocurrency broke through $US4,000 for the first time earlier this morning.

It peaked at $US4,100 per coin and a short time ago was trading at $US4,055. Here’s the chart:

According to a CBNC report, Bitcoin’s price increase over the weekend has been driven by demand from Japan.

The weekend price action follows a solid week of gains for Bitcoin, which held its value and then climbed amid a spike in market volatility from escalating tensions between the US and North Korea.

Bitcoin started trading on the updated SegWit platform on Tuesday August 8, following months of disagreements between developers about how to increase transaction speeds on the Bitcoin network.

Those disagreements led to a split in the currency on August 1 and the creation of Bitcoin Cash. The value of Bitcoin Cash dived from a high of $US435 on Tuesday, falling to below $US300. It’s been trading in a narrow range just above $US300 over the weekend.

Ether, the world’s second biggest cryptocurrency which trades on the Ethereum blockchain, has been little-changed over the weekend and a short time ago was trading just below $US300.

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