Bitcoin's Value Crosses $12,000 For The First Time Since Jan 2018

Bitcoin's price continued its rally, surpassing the $12,000 level on Wednesday for the first time since January 2018. Following Facebook's announcement on launching its digital currency- Libra last week, the interest in cryptocurrencies revived among investors.

In 2019, bitcoin's value rose by 216 percent to touch $12,155 on 26 June from $3,843.52 on 1 January.

While the cryptocurrency's prices have been shooting up, media reports suggest that owning or selling cryptocurrencies in India could result in a jail-term for 10 years.

An IANS report said that a "Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019" draft has proposed 10-year prison sentence for persons who "mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies. It further said that possessing the cryptocurrencies would become a non-bialable offence.

Meanwhile, Facebook will be launching its digital currency Libra in the next year and is backed by a basket of real-world currencies and a consortium of tech companies like Visa, Uber, MasterCard and PayPal.

Bitcoin, that had touched a high of $19,000 in December 2017, came crashing down in 2018 to hit a low of $3,000 after various governmental bodies started abolishing the use of cryptocurrency or sought to tighten laws to control its use.