Singapore — Bitcoin ploughed past $14,000 to a fresh record on Thursday as investors continued to pile in, triggering a warning the crypto-currency was "like a charging train with no brakes" that would inevitably slip back. It touched a new high of $14,485 before slipping back to $14,398 in Asian afternoon trade, according to Bloomberg News. The rally came just a day after the virtual currency, which has been used to buy everything from an ice cream to a pint of beer, hit the $12,000 mark for the first time. Bitcoin — which came into being in 2009 as a bit of encrypted software and has no central bank backing it — has risen from a 2017 low of $752 in mid-January, and surged dramatically in the past month. The increased interest has been driven by growing acceptance among traditional investors of an innovation once considered the preserve of computer nerds and financial experts. Last week, US regulators cleared the way for bitcoin futures to trade on major exchanges, including the wo...
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