by Tyler Durden Bitcoin is up almost 15% today, breaking through $2000, $2100, and now $2200.It's been quite a ride...As CryptoCompare's founder Charles Hayter notes, there are numerous drivers for this sudden surge in the virtual currency... Bitcoin is trading at a $400, or 19%, premium on Japanese Markets as Bitcoin fever takes hold.The USD-BTC markets are trading at $2150 whilst the JPY-BTC pair is trading at the equivalent of $2550.Japanese volumes are 42-50% of trading with 132k BTC volume or c.$300 million per day.The Japanese have caught the Bitcoin bug and inefficiencies across markets are being exposed.Irrational exuberance is taking hold as the Japanese stumble over each other to enter the Bitcoin market and drag up international prices.Ethereum has seen a strong price rise on the back of the Ethereum Enterprise announcement and strong buying from Korea where the price is again at a large premium trading at $230 compared to the USD market at $180 - or 27%.The Korean market share of ethereum trading has been steadily increasing and has now reached 15%.

Summary Bitcoin has hit the $2200 mark after a strong bull run with a fleshing out of the crypto ecosystem where positive regulatory moves, specifically in Japan have prompted a large inflow of fiat in the last couple of months.bitcoin difficulty 2009The Japanese have given bitcoin the greenlight as a currency and are looking to increase the rigour that their exchanges are subject too - all in all positive for the industry as it moves more mainstream.ethereum price bubbleAlongside you are seeing Chinese exchanges switching bank online after the PBoC halted withdrawals due to AML and KYC concerns in January this year.gegen bitcoin wettenThese exchanges have been trading at a steep discount for the past couple of months as money has essentially been trapped by the PBoC's diktats.

Interest in other crypto currencies has also brought money to the table that ebbs and flows via bitcoin - although you are starting to see direct ethereum pairs offering immediate exposure.The money is washing in and out of Bitcoin to search for extraordinary returns in the other crypto currencies.Ethereum and Ripple have seen some extraordinary returns this year - and momentum begets momentum with greed taking the lead.Premia & Discounts Bitcoin trades across multiple fiat pairs in a range of local and global exchanges.These pairs often trade at different prices due to fees, entrance and exit routes, and various perceptions of the safety of the exchange.For example on the USD market exchanges have traded at up to a 5% or more difference.This can be exacerbated by various factors.When these inefficiencies occur there are opportunities to arbitrage the difference.So large discrepancies or rises on one particular pair - for example the JPY BTC pair - can drag up the USD BTC pair as demand on one markets prompts opportunities on another.

Charts below showing the JPY Premium over time and price differential to the USD markets.The Korean Won is also trading at a premium on the USD exchange of $2750 or a 27% premium.The Korean Won has 5% of Bitcoin trading.Ethereum is also seeing its markets dislocate as the Korean won takes a large premium.New fiat on ramps into the crypto currency are distorting market prices  but the fundamental levels of adoption and use by industry have been key in igniting price momentum.The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has more than tripled in size, with the group announcing 86 new members, including South Korean telecom Samsung, pharmaceuticals giant Merck, automaker Toyota, investor communications platform Broadridge, financial markets firm DTCC, and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which oversees licensed businesses in the state.Additional factors include: Global Uncertainty - Bitcoin has reacted as a form of digital gold at times of international crisis and this is often touted as first major price factor.

Bitcoin traditionally moves with a higher beta than gold so spikes higher to the upside - periods of high correlation for bitcoin and gold occur when global uncertainty takes the ascendancy - which at present doesn't seem to be the case.Bitcoin is defying its gold relationship and subject to its own internal machinations.Gold has traded between 1240-1280 USD /oz whilst bitcoin has doubled in the last 3 months.On a macro level Macron's success, despite the storm clouds of brexit and Trump's bellicose attitude mean doom and gloom scenarios of political polarisation are improbable but still nonetheless a risk.Scaling Debate - Litecoin has taken the lead and become the frontline in testing various augmentations for bitcoin with its segwit upgrade and early moves towards adding a lightening network for faster transactions.This has highlighted the fundamental issue of stalemate and hegemony in Bitcoin's corporate governance DNA.Although there is a proposal being put forward by Barry Silbert that cherry picks various elements to attempt to assuage both side of the political debate - there are no clear indications of a solution as of yet.

The issue regularly raises its head as a bugbear for the price and takes centre stage for time with resultant downward pressure.Bitcoin ETF - BATS exchange have requested the SEC review its refusal to allow the Winklevoss twins exchange to be approved.The reasons for the refusal have not changed substantially so this is not expected to dramatically alter the outlook for bitcoin.The world of virtual currencies is getting crowded with altcoins.Even more are in penny-stock range.Here are 12 cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin.28, 2014, and not all are in the top 10 by either measure.Litecoin Market cap: $353.3 million Price: $13.53 Year created: 2011 Litecoin sets itself up as the “silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” Confirmations of transactions are purportedly processed more quickly with Litecoin than Bitcoin.The way it’s mined also eliminates some of the advantage for miners with specialized computer hardware.Peercoin Market cap: $71.3 million Price: $3.37 Year created: 2012 Peercoin markets itself as using less energy and being more environmentally sustainable than some of the other coins on the market.

It says it is designed to have a 1 percent rate of inflation.Primecoin Market cap: $7.1 million Price: $1.55 Year created: 2013 With this coin, miners have to use their computers to find Cunningham chains, which are sequences of prime numbers.Primecoin touts the mining of such prime numbers as “providing potential scientific value in addition to minting and security for the network.” Namecoin Market cap: $26.9 million Price: $3.30 Year created: 2011 Namecoin was created to explore the record-keeping side of the cryptocurrency technology.It acts as a peer-to-peer, decentralized domain name system for dot-bit domains.People can purchase dot-bit domains with Namecoin, and then Namecoin tracks the transaction in the “block chain,” or public ledger.Ripple Market cap: $1.4 billion Price: $0.014 Year created: 2013 Ripple has already attracted millions in venture capital, including from Google Ventures.In contrast to Bitcoin, there is no mining of Ripples.

Ripple also is set up as a payment network, not only for Ripple, but for other currencies, and as an automated system for currency trades.Sexcoin Market cap: $450,700 Price: $0.0073 Year created: 2013 According to its website, the goal of Sexcoin is to have a way for purveyors and consumers of “adult content” to have a fast, stable and secure method of transactions that protects privacy.Quark Market cap: $12 million Price: $0.05 Year created: 2013 The Quark coin uses nine rounds of encryption to ensure security and anonymity in its transactions.It claims that, because Quark is mined using regular computer processing power, it offers the “fairest distribution model available.” Freicoin Market cap: $1.4 million Price: $0.036 Year created: 2012 Freicoin imposes a “demurrage fee” of about 5 percent annually on money held by users, meaning that users who hoard their money instead of spending it will see their money fall in value.

Mastercoin Market cap: $29.5 million Price: $52.46 Year created: 2013 Created to address some of the security and price stability issues of Bitcoin, it implements more advanced features on top of the block chain.It appears the importance of Mastercoin is more in its technology than in its currency.Nxt Market cap: $44.8 million Price: $0.045 Year created: 2013 Nxt, like Ripple, does not build on the Bitcoin code.Instead, it uses its own code written from Java software.Auroracoin Market cap: $236.6 million Price: $22.34 Year created: 2014 Auroracoin was created after a purported Icelandic entrepreneur came up with the idea of distributing cryptocurrency to everyone in his country.Auroracoin is based on the Litecoin and is 50 percent pre-mined.The pre-mined coins will be distributed to the entire population of Iceland beginning at midnight March 25.Dogecoin Market cap: $59.3 million Price: $.0011 Year created: 2013 This altcoin initially started as a joke by combining two Internet phenomena — bitcoins and the doge meme.