Bitcoin Rises to Two-Year High as Supply Seen Shrinking in July

Bitcoin rose to a two year high on Monday amid speculations the supply of the digital currency will reduce in July.

The cryptocurrency rose as high as $683.89 on Monday, making its highest since 2014, according to a Bloomberg report. The digital currency has gained 17 percent from the Friday closing price and traded at $677.93 as of 10:52 a.m. in Hong Kong.

Profits from mining bitcoins will be reduced in July, a process that’s written into the code to limit supply, according to Chinese exchanges OKCoin and Huobi.

“The halving of the supply of Bitcoin is attracting many retail investors,” Liu said. “More broadly, we continue to see follow-through from the blockchain hype cycle translating to interest in bitcoin the asset.”

The price of bitcoin has mostly recovered following a steep decline to less than $200 in January of last year from more than $1,000 in December 2013.

Bitcoin’s rebound is coinciding with weakness in the yuan, which fell the most in two months on Monday in Shanghai. Losses have accelerated in recent weeks as the dollar strengthened and China’s economic outlook deteriorated. Data Monday showed industrial output rose 6 percent in May from a year earlier, while fixed-asset investment increased 9.6 percent in the first five months of 2016, missing all 38 economist forecasts.