The price of bitcoin swung wildly Thursday, rising to more than $19,000 only to fall sharply within minutes. Coinbase, the largest bitcoin exchange, tweeted that record-high traffic had caused interruptions to its service Thursday. The price swings are occurring not long before bitcoin starts trading on two established U.S. exchanges. The price swings are occurring just as the trading community prepares for bitcoin to start trading on two established U.S. exchanges. The coins are created by users who “mine” them by lending computing power to verify other users' transactions.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 07, 2017 16:49 UTC