“Although bitcoin has attracted a lot of attention in the last few months, Babin-Tremblay pointed out that the currency actually started to gain popularity earlier this year as a result of the Cyprus banking crisis. In March the government of Cyprus announced a bail-in for banks, meaning that the financial institutions would have to impose losses on their shareholders, debt holders and even large depositors. After the bail-in was announced people ended up rushing to their bank accounts to withdraw funds. Many put the money into bitcoin, where governments could not touch it. ‘Bitcoins were growing slowly until Cyprus. Cyprus was the catalyst for the big increase in the price,’ he said.”
http://www.kitco.com/news/2013-12-10/2013-Year-Of-The-Bitcoin.html
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin