LONDON – Bitcoin is surging on Thursday morning, shooting past $7,000 per coin on Thursday morning for the first time ever.

Bitcoin passed the milestone in early trade and, at 11.10 a.m. GMT (7.05 a.m. ET), the digital currency is up over 8% against the dollar to $7,300.11:

Markets Insider

Bitcoin has been on a tear over the last week, posting record highs on consecutive days. The digital currency had not been higher than $6,300 at the start of the week but has now gained $700 on that level in just a few days.

The recent run has been helped by news on Tuesday that CME Group, the world's largest exchange operator, plans to introduce bitcoin future contracts in response to client demand. This is seen as a stamp of legitimacy from the world of traditional finance for bitcoin.

Traders are also speculating that this week's bull run is partly helped by a coming "fork" in bitcoin's underlying software. The SegWit2x software update is scheduled for November 16 and could split bitcoin in two, creating a new currency.

This has happened in the past with bitcoin cash and bitcoin gold and, in those cases, bitcoin holders got those new coins free. As a result, investors may be piling into bitcoin in the hopes of a SegWit2x dividend.