Bitcoin may be the biggest winner of 2017 so far

Story updated below to reflect recent Bitcoin price movement.

Bitcoin is (Editor's note: was) having a good 2017.

The digital currency traded at $1,029 on Tuesday, its first day of trading in the new year. The price was bitcoin's first over $1,000 in three years.

The jump in value was attributed to increased demand in China, which is where most bitcoin is traded. Analysts speculated that more people in China were using bitcoin to circumvent the Chinese government's strict regulations on money leaving the country, BBC reported.

Demonetization of high-value paper currency in India has also led some to turn to bitcoin, CBC News said.

Even the election of Donald Trump and the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union could have contributed to bitcoin's climb, with greater uncertainty leading to a turn toward the cryptocurrency.

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At the beginning of 2016, bitcoin was trading around $400. In 2015, prices went below $200.

Bitcoin's all-time high price is $1,216.70, reached in 2013 amid the European debt crisis before the currency's crash.

The cryptocurrency, whose blockchain technology is being adopted across industries, appreciated by more than 100 percent in 2016, according to Coin Desk.

That 125 percent climb was more than any other currency last year.

UPDATE: Jan. 5, 2017, 1:37 p.m. EST

Bitcoin's 2017 glory was short-lived. Prices fell $200 in one hour on Thursday — five days into the new year — in what Coin Desk called a "freefall." The price recovered a bit after its initial decline. As of Thursday afternoon, one Bitcoin is trading at around $975.

Bitcoin's prices are generally pretty volatile, but Coin Desk still told market watchers to "wait and see."