The Bitcoin (CURRENCY: BTC) price continued its incredible rally over the weekend, climbing over 16% to reach as high as US$3,360 at one stage according to CNBC.
At the time of writing the Bitcoin price has dropped back a touch but is still fetching US$3,278.
What happened?
It appears as though the strong gain made by the cryptocurrency this weekend was built on investor relief after the hotly anticipated Bitcoin split last week proved to be reasonably uneventful.
Although Bitcoin has continued to flourish since the split, the new cryptocurrency spin off Bitcoin Cash has plunged in value.
A suspected hack on its network and a lack of demand has been touted as the main driver of its decline from US$765 to almost US$200 according to the CNBC report.
What's next?
This is the question on everybody's lips. Whilst some believe Bitcoin will go onto be worth tens of thousands of dollars or even more, others believe the cryptocurrency will one day be close to worthless.
With nothing to back up the digital currency, unfortunately I would side with the view that its value could be reduced significantly in the future. Ultimately this could mean investing in Bitcoin could be a quick way to lose a lot of money.
While I see a lot of value in the technology, I'm not convinced Bitcoin is as future-proof as it needs to be to last the course.
Whether rival Ethereum or another fledgling cryptocurrency will ultimately be the one that succeeds is impossible to know at this stage.
In light of this I would sooner invest in ASX shares with significant growth potential such as Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd. (ASX: DMP), Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), or XERO FPO NZX (ASX: XRO).
Not only are these much safer investments, but I suspect over the next decade these three shares have a strong chance of vastly outperforming Bitcoin.
