Bitcoin jumped Tuesday to a fresh record above $1,700 after a Federal Reserve official talked up the potential of the blockchain technology that supports the digital currency. Bitcoin rose more than 6 percent to hit an all-time high of $1,747.06, according to CoinDesk. Prices then gave up some gains to trade near $1,707 as of 1:11 p.m., ET. "I would say I think conventional wisdom now is that blockchain and the underlying technology is probably more interesting and has more potential than maybe bitcoin does by itself," Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said in a Reuters report. He was speaking at a technology conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Bitcoin (2013 – 2017)

Blockchain is a record of transactions and historical value

categorized into blocks by a network of computers. The technology has spurred the recent creation of other digital currencies. "I think sentiment has shifted in the markets, in the Fed," Kashkari also said in the report. He was the assistant Treasury secretary overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis. Bitcoin has surged in the last several weeks on speculation of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S., increased Japanese investor interest due to new regulations and overall greater interest in digital currencies.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor