Bitcoin has more than doubled this year compared with the U.S. dollar, reaching a record high of $2,190.45 on Monday, the seven-year anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day. The day commemorates the time a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 bitcoin on two pizzas.

Hanyecz on May 22, 2010, asked a fellow bitcoin enthusiast accept 10,000 bitcoin for two Papa John's Pizzas. “At the time, Hanyecz believed that the coins he had "mined" on his computer were worth around 0.003 cents each,” CNBC reported.

Bitcoin mining is the process of solving a complex mathematical equation that awards the miner with a bitcoin. The cryptocurrency has been associated with criminal activity, giving it a bad name.

If you bought $100 of bitcoin at the 0.003 cent price on May 22, 2010, you'd now be sitting on around $72.9 million, according to CNBC’s calculation.

The bitcoin rally is being driven by its acceptance for payment in Japan as a legal currency. About 40 percent of bitcoin foreign-exchange transactions involve converting yen into bitcoin. Bitcoin is also seen as a safe-haven asset like gold amid political uncertainty.

• Bitcoin Options Exchange Raises $11.4 Million in Funding
• Bitcoin's Murkier Rivals Line up to Displace it as Cybercriminals' Favorite