The last 30 minutes has seen Bitcoin explode higher by over 15% (the biggest move since 2017), breaking above $8,000 on extremely heavy volume as the cryptocurrency tests above its 200-day moving-average.

Speculative chatter on the driver behind the move is Russian oligarchs buying (though we note that Bitcoin actually fell on the announcement of the sanctions last week). This is obviously unconfirmed...

"Have Russian billionaire oligarchs started converting their net worth into crypto"

Additionally, and perhaps more likely, this is a reflexive easing from the tax-related selling pressure that many have discussed as a big driver of cryptos downside ahead of next week's tax deadline.

Extremely heavy volume on this upswing... The move peaked at around 16%, before fading back to a more stable 11% gain.

Unsurprisingly, as BI reports, the team of analysts led by Joseph Abate say there's a striking similarity between bitcoin's rise in popularity and the spread of viruses like influenza.

"Applying this model to speculative behaviour in crypto currencies, it suggests that once a large enough share of the population susceptible to speculation becomes aware of and holders of crypto currencies, upward pressure on prices stalls," they write. "To the extent that holders’ attraction to Bitcoin was speculative – as our empirical analysis of historical prices suggests – those holders then become sellers, initiating an accelerating downward spiral."