MyBitcoinSaver, a New Zealand microsavings platform for those who want to invest in Bitcoin, has raised $400,000 in seed round funding and is planning to expand into the UK market.

Its chief operating officer Matt Gibson said Bitcoin had experienced amazing price gains over the past year.

But he said, compared to the price of gold, there was still room to grow. Bitcoins have a total market cap of US$150 billion compared to US$7 trillion for gold.

Bitcoins were yesterday at US$7076 each. A year ago, they were trading for US$709.

Gibson said prices had increased sharply as more channels became available for banks and other institutional investors to invest.

"There’s new money pouring in."

Gibson said he expected a correction of up to about 10% but long-term it should still go "quite high".

Once registered to MyBitcoinSaver, users can set up automatic bank payments of between $10 and $200 on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis.

The startup then bulk-buys Bitcoin from an overseas exchange and distributes it to users’ wallets that same week.

MyBitcoinSaver has grown by more than 4000% in its first year with 1460 New Zealanders signed up to the service so far.

Gibson said it allowed investors to avoid many of the fees they would otherwise have to pay.

He said it was a viable option for financial advisers.  Once their clients had bitcoin wallets set up, they could put 5 per cent or 10 per cent of their portfolios into bitcoin. “Once it’s in their wallet, no one can take it away from them.”

It would offer diversification but could also be used to make purchases, he said.

The Financial Markets Authority has warned consumers need to be aware that cryptocurrencies are volatile, their value can change quickly and they were not widely accepted in the same way as legal tender.

Tony Alexander, BNZ chief economist, said there was  FOMO element at play with bitcoin. “It will eventually settle down and just become a part of our current system. But, ultimately, you can’t pass the central banks and regulation."