Even 'Kardashians' can't keep up with bitcoin

It’s been derided as a fad that panders to the weaker facets of human nature.

But Keeping Up With the Kardashians – the reality TV series featuring an ensemble cast of the eponymous family – has endured for what some would describe as 14 long seasons. Meanwhile, the Kardashian family has spun a business empire through prolific social-media accounts that capture the world’s attention with an endless stream of drama and glossy lifestyle pics.

Now, they have competition in the form of bitcoin, the virtual currency that has ridden a wave of new interest to soar to an all-time high this week, sparking an outpouring of fresh bubble warnings. As investors pour into the crypto market, Google Trends shows searches for ‘bitcoin’ now far outnumber trawls for the ‘Kardashians.’

‘Keeping Up With the Cryptocurrencies’ may be a tongue-in-cheek gauge of mainstream interest, but it comes as analysts attempt to project how much new money can pour into the market, according to Nick Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research LLC.

“The upshot is that bitcoin is a tech-enabled (and therefore global) phenomenon, which is a critical feature of its price advance,” Colas, formerly chief market strategist at Convergex Group LLC, wrote in a note. “We can’t think of another financial asset in history where the majority of the world’s citizens can invest as easily as they view an Instagram picture or chat on Twitter.”

Bitcoin investors may have their own Kardashian-esque drama to contend with. The price of the currency fell to as low as $9,009 on Wednesday, after surging to more than $11,000 on the same day.