MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. Bitcoin exchange rate soared more than 23%, smashing through the $18,000 benchmark for the first time ever, according to the data from the electronic cryptocurrency platform, Coinmarketcap. The exchange rate surge over the past day amounted to $4,000.

Bitcoin is a decentralized system based on blockchain technology, which any user participating in the system can ‘mine’ (emit) by creating new blocks of the structure using a computing device.

The system’s concept was first published in November 2008 by its author (or probably a group of authors) under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin’s popularity, though, reached its peak just over the last several years. Its emission is naturally limited, and right now, the bulk of bitcoins have already been ‘mined’.