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THE price of Bitcoin hit 4,270 yuan (US$650) yesterday to touch a new record high over the past two years and a 50 percent surge from the price of about 20 days ago, as Chinese demand continued to boom.

Bitcoin, a form of digital currency created and held electronically, hit 4,270 yuan by 5pm yesterday, up 10 percent from the previous day.

The Bitcoin price was below 3,000 yuan three weeks ago. A flood of new Chinese investors, a drop in the supply of Bitcoins from July and an easing investment environment were factors driving the price, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday.

“The trade volume and price both surged in recent weeks, with many new registered investors coming every day, many pouring money from the stock and housing markets,” said Du Jun, co-founder of huobi.com, a Beijing-based Bitcoin trading platform, whose daily trade volume exceeds 5 billion yuan.

Bitcoins, seen as another investment option for investors, are not printed like dollars or euros. Instead they are produced by people and businesses running computers globally, using software that solves mathematical problems.

The price still has potential to rise as supply is to be cut from July to 1,800 Bitcoins daily from 3,600 each day now. The price of Bitcoin is also far from the peak in 2013 when it hit about 8,000 yuan, industry officials said.