This article was originally published by 8btc and written by Lylian Teng.The bitcoin price has broken $8,000 for the first time since July 2018, with most cryptocurrencies trading in the green. The rally has sent “bitcoin” to the top of the Baidu hot searches (China’s equivalent of Google Trends) as of May 14, 2019.As of press time, bitcoin is trading at around $8,135, up over 15 percent over the past 24 hours and nearly 40 percent in the week. While no one is sure why bitcoin has skyrocketed, many believe there are several factors driving the surge.VDS FundsMany Chinese crypto traders believe that the scam coin Vollar (VDS), one of the most talked about cryptos these days, is a factor behind the bitcoin rally. Because investors must use BTC to exchange for VDS, it might have brought a considerable amount of funds into the crypto space.The lottery-like game VDS has gone viral lately in the Chinese crypto community for its multi-level marketing promotion and bitcoin reward. The coin has increased in value from 4 yuan per coin in March to a high of 85 yuan. Despite its pyramid scheme nature, it still draws large amounts of new money in. It is estimated by local media that VDS has drawn about 7.2 billion yuan (roughly $1.05 billion) of capital.“Old Money”Major financial and tech institutions are also bringing good news to bitcoin. Social media giant Facebook, boasting more than two billion users across its various platforms, is...
