BITCOIN COULD BE on the way back up after it hit its highest value in 20 months.

The cryptocurrency is now valued at €477 per coin, matching the valuation it had back in August 2014.

After that, the currency value fell to under the €200 mark before stabilising and climbing back up. The latest rise happened started on Friday although it still has a long way to go before it matches the peak of €1,033 in November 2013.

It’s not clear why its value began to surge but one possible reason for the spike include an increase in trading volume and demand for the cryptocurrency in China, according to ZeroHedge.

Despite Chinese authorities wanting to curb trading, since it’s not under any central authority and can be traded almost instantly, China now accounts for the majority of bitcoin trading.

And its overall value could change significantly next month as a large batch of confiscated bitcoin will be auctioned off in Australia.

The financial and auditing firm, Ernst and Young, would be selling off 24,158 bitcoin –  worth roughly €11.5 million with today’s prices - that were “confiscated as proceeds of crime”. The auction will take place near the end of June.

It would be the second auction involving bitcoin since the currency’s creation. The first one included 44,000 bitcoins confiscated from Silk Road, the online black market that was used to sell illegal goods.

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