Bitcoin Craze Propels Coinbase App to No. 1 in Apple's Store

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin is officially number one, at least when it comes to Apple Inc.’s App Store.

The software application for Coinbase Inc., operator of one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, climbed to the top of Apple’s download ranking for free apps in the U.S. on Thursday.

It’s yet another sign of the speculative frenzy surrounding bitcoin, which just recorded one of its wildest swings in recent memory. On Coinbase’s GDAX exchange, prices zoomed up to almost $20,000 from $16,000 in about 90 minutes on Thursday, before sinking back down. The venue temporarily crashed and continued to suffer from service delays. Bitcoin traded at $16,454.60 as of 12:13 p.m. in Hong Kong, up more than 17-fold this year, according to Bloomberg composite pricing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Michael Patterson

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