Bitcoin eases off monthly highs, still up $700 on the week

After the Bitcoin development community avoided a potential crisis by accepting the SegWit2x upgrade, which is supposed to increase the digital currency network’s transaction capacity, before the July 31 deadline, the BTC gained nearly $700 on Thursday, pushing the BTC/USD pair close to its record high of $2,999 that was set on June 11. 

“We’re going to see greater utility of the network. Now people can use bitcoin as a way to transit value more easily, more quickly, more cheaply. And that tends to attract in new users to the network," Adam White, head of cryptocurrency exchange GDAX, told Bloomberg. 

Although the pair retraced part of its gains from yesterday, most likely via profit taking, it's still looking to record its biggest weekly gain since its record setting rally.