[Thespian2]

Not true. For each buy that happens, there must be a sale. There are more buyers than sellers right now, not no sellers. Each time the price goes up, that's a sale _that happened_

This is something we've seen many times before. It's not new. It's a classic bubble where demand (buyers) greatly outstrips supply (sellers).

The big question is why. Crypto currencies haven't suddenly gotten more useful. The current rise is fueled by speculation of the ability to resell at a higher price.

[mancerayder]

I think a large part of the answer is scope. The scope is international, and the scope of average, retail investors and their ability to do this ... well, unprecedented. Next, you have a lot of people with a lot of cash, tens, maybe hundreds of millions of potential people, in China, Korea, Japan, U.S., Europe, and so forth.

That's my hypothesis as to the 'unprecedented' aspect to all of this.

What other bubbles are there that were so lightning-quick, vast in geography and 24/7 operation.

Tulips at least required some sort of hand waving at auctions (presumably) and some transportation at some point after 'settlement'.

This is as fast as a video game connected to your bank account.