BitInstant Transfers $1.1 Million in April as the Bitcoin Economy Takes Off

Charlie Shrem, CEO of BitInstant, today reported that his service transferred $1.1 million in USD and Bitcoins in the month of April, representing 120% growth over February and 340% growth over December. BitInstant is a popular service primarily used to rapidly move US dollars into and between the Bitcoin exchanges.

His report comes hot on the heels of widespread indicators of exponential growth throughout the Bitcoin economy. Loan services, stock exchanges, merchants, and Bitcoin gambling sites are all demonstrating significant growth for the first quarter of 2012.


Seemingly sensing the momentum, Bitcoin miners are also stepping up their game, with the network experiencing a rare (record?) spike to 18 Thash/s just yesterday (image courtesy of http://bitcoin.sipa.be/).  Though the spike could be merely a representation of some miners getting lucky, the overall trend is clearly to the upside after last fall's difficulty drop.

Network transaction graphs are also pointing to a rapid increase in the number of Bitcoins moved in a given day (graph not currently available but will be posted when blockchain.info comes back online).

Finally, though I'd love to get philosophical about the reasons for Bitcoin's growth, at the end of the day, it might just be the porn.  =)

We'll have to keep a close eye on whether this is just a blip or a sign of a prosperous future for our fledgling currency - if I had to guess, I would say it's the latter.

Posted in: adoption,BitInstant,blockchain.info