Bitcoin ‘fork’ rumours send the crypto-currency into an upward spiral
London — Bitcoin hit an all-time high just below $8,000 on Friday, on talk that a software upgrade, whose suspension sent the crypto-currency into a tailspin at the end of last week was, after all, going ahead within hours. Talk that the upgrade — which could split or "fork" bitcoin into two versions — would go ahead was driven by a statement on the website of Coinbase, the world’s largest bitcoin company with operations in 32 countries. "The Bitcoin Segwit2x fork is expected to occur in the next six hours," it said in a statement published at 10.04am GMT. If a bitcoin clone were created, any holders would also, in theory, instantly become owners of the new spin-off. Bitcoin, generally highly volatile, has been on a particularly wild ride, sliding at the end of last week to as low as $5,555 after plans for Segwit2x were suspended, before bouncing more than 40% since Sunday. It reached as high as $7,997 in early Asian trading on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, before easing b...
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