Is it finally time to bet on bitcoin?

Bitcoin, the world’s most popular digital currency, has been one of the success stories of lockdown as armchair investors and institutions pour in their money.

The value of bitcoin rose more than 150 per cent this year and is trading at about £13,500 — within £1,000 of its 2017 record. Compare this with the FTSE 100, which is down about 13 per cent despite a recent surge after the discovery and rollout of the Covid vaccine.

The popularity of digital currency has been helped by social media and is particularly strong among the young. Girl Gone Crypto is the Instagram account of Lea Thompson, who has 38,900 followers on Twitter, 27,000 on TikTok and 8,600 on Instagram.

Ben Armstrong’s bitboy_crypto account has 37,300 Instagram followers.