[flatline]

The truth is, nobody really knows what is driving the price up. It’s not the DNMs, the high price and fees are a PITA for them. Could be artificial pump via USDT. Could be individuals or even nations under financial sanctions dumping cash into the markets. Could be speculators in Western markets. Could be people in countries with unstable currencies looking to hedge their losses. We know all of these are factors - unless tethers are actually backed 1:1 by USD - but due to the decentralized and pseudonymous nature of the currency there is little way to know what the prevailing reasons are unless and until it all comes tumbling down. Gox blew up in 2013 and the full story only came to light (well, sort of) this year.

[mrhappyunhappy]

Or it could be all of the above and then some. For some reason we as humans like everything neat and tidy and be able to point our finger at one thing and say this is it. If there’s anything you can learn from the world and why it operates the way it does and how some events that would seem unthinkable eventually transpire, is that the world is much more complex than anyone gives it credit. This goes for economies, markets, bitcoin growth, wars, policies, lobbying and just about everything else. So yeah, I’d say it’s a number of reasons.