I have read and heard where the rise in bitcoin was,
until recently, being fed by Chinese demand.
Apparently, since Bitcoin will only ever have 21 million
coins minted, the Chinese were of the mind
that if every village owned even only 1 BTC
and it continued to rise in value, each village
had the potential to become rich just based
on that 1 bitcoin.

However, the Chinese government began to
crack down on Bitcoin exchanges.

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/01/aud-nears-73c-bitcoin-surges-chinese-demand/

http://www.investopedia.com/news/china-cracks-down-bitcoin-exchanges-prices-fall/

Since then, the Japanese apparently jumped in to
purchase Bitcoin after their government legalized it,
which is why BTC is currently soaring to new heights.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/11/bitcoin-rides-japanese-demand-to-record-1800.html

I have seen estimates of $13,000 and up per coin
in the relatively short term, but to say the least,
it is interesting to observe the rise of an intangible
"currency" that totally depends on both the full faith
of the public and the internet never failing.