It’s only been since April that Bitcoin value reached $240 and then fell once again below $200–so this last week, seeing the currency surge back up brings a lot of speculation to people following these changes. Add in the amazing recovery from the uncertainty of SR’s demise and a sudden increase in press and popularity–after all it’s just as romantic that bitcoins can be used for criminal enterprise as they can for everyday business–and it’s a recipe for a boost in value.

On top of that, a rally appears to be happening in China involving the exchange of Bitcoin after the announcement that China’s “Google” Baidu has a service that now accepts BTC. This news has led to a noticeable rise in interest on Chinese exchanges and with it likely an overall rise in the valuation of bitcoins.

Post-Silkroad BTC value has exceeded $200 (again)

With the loss of Silk Road to an FBI raid the Bitcoin market value responded with a sudden dip; however, that only lasted about three days before it recovered and began a surprising rise. Falling on average to around $120 by October 4th BTC had risen to back near $140 and now 20 days later it’s exceeded $200.

Bitcoin is such an interesting technology in that it is an excellent digitally-transferable currency that has the benefits of being difficult to counterfeit and also adds partial anonymity. As a result, critics of the use of BTC often bring up the potential for it to be used in crime (often while ignoring how often the dollar is used for crime) but no doubt to their chagrin Silk Road’s demise didn’t lead to anything but a blip on the market’s radar.

In fact, the high-publicity removal of Silk Road has done more to assist the public recognition of Bitcoin as a fundamentally functional currency than anything else that’s happened since its inception. Not only has it made it obvious that Bitcoin can work to run a black market; it’s also made it obvious that BTC value isn’t connected to black markets. It’s been a media win-win in many ways.

This notable inflation of value could be the result of SR’s demise and the resultant press about the subject.

Business Insider went as far as to call it an “insane surge.” If anything, it’s certainly an impressive upswell.

Chinese market and Baidu may yet-another-factor

Other likely suspects include the recent news that Chinese Internet giant Baidu started accepting bitcoins as payment for its Jiasule service, which offers firewall and security services. While this isn’t as big news as Baidu accepting BTC across the board, it has seen several major Chinese Bitcoin exchanges swell with interest in response. According to an article at Forex Magnates, the market share of China in Bitcoin volume has expanded to 22% over 10% just a month ago.

While the Chinese government  is not well known for accepting outside influences that are difficult to control, some of the bigger Bitcoin exchanges run out of China and the increased interest in BTC by that population is somewhat telling. There’s a lot of people and businesses out of China whose entry into the Bitcoin market could provide a significant boost.

Bitcoin knows no borders, and suffers only due to potential regulation or murky legal status when it comes to businesses getting on board.

Another bubble?

April saw what could probably be best described as a very real Bitcoin Bubble. Although, even after the “bubble burst” BTC value had still stayed higher than it had been on average throughout all of 2012.

This sudden seeming “surge” of value over a matter of weeks could be driven by a number of factors–beyond those even listed above–and at some point it will probably come to a head.

Noting that at least one notable Chinese business seems happy coming on board there’s more than enough room for more to follow. If that happens, this increase in BTC valuation to $200 will be only be a stepping stone to something much bigger.

However, there is reason to hold the horses and take stock of the situation. When the news of Baidu first came out many noted that the Jiasule service is only one small component and not the entire company. A post relating how Chinese businesses and culture work on BitcoinTalk seems to suggest that this entire reaction may be an investor reaction to a false signal.

While it’s obvious that investors and China have been looking for a reason to get into Bitcoin (resulting in the increase in China’s market share), Jiasule is only one small part of Baidu, and no other Chinese outfits have gotten on board since that news. The semi-independent nature of parts of Chinese corporations also means that Jiasule could be acting on its own and may simply get shut down by Baidu or even the Chinese government.