And finally…Bitcoin value jumps 20 per cent within days to hit record value

This week’s leap already takes it to 20 per cent above the level it stood at on Friday, according to the Luxembourg-based Bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp.

Currencies such as Bitcoin use blockchain, which is an online ledger of transactions maintained by a network of anonymous computers on the internet.

They are not backed by any government, nor central bank and therefore there is no-one responsible for backing their value.

The rocketing value of Bitcoin has sparked very different reactions from across the finance industry to the currencies which are largely unregulated and bypass traditional banking systems.

European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny told Reuters news agency that Bitcoin “could easily blow up, and central banks could then be accused of not doing anything.

“So we’re trying to understand whether bank activity in relation to crypto-currency trading needs to be better regulated.”

China and South Korea have banned any new virtual currency launches and have been shutting down exchanges on which they are traded.

However, JP Morgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, described Bitcoin at a recent conference as “a fraud”.

“It’s just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed,” he predicted.