THE PRICE OF THE DIGITAL CURRENCY BITCOIN hit $4,045 on Sunday, almost 3.23 times its exchange value early this year. Economic Information Daily commented on Monday:

Over the past three weeks bitcoin, which was worth just 1/1300 of a US dollar when it first hit the market, has doubled in value despite the wobble earlier this month. The issuance of the rival "bitcoin cash" on Aug 1 affected a number of crypto currencies in its first week of trading, but bitcoin held up.

Decentralized and not replicable, bitcoin can be swiftly transferred across borders regardless of the amount, and the transaction costs are normally lower than traditional currency transfers. Investors, therefore, would seem to have good reason to be optimistic about the original crypto currency.