When a surge in bitcoin trading overwhelmed the servers at Coinbase in December, it was clear that rocketing interest in cryptocurrency was driving a flood of business to the exchange. Now, data from analytics firm Second Measure reveal just how sudden and steep the growth at Coinbase has been.

Coinbase, one of the biggest exchanges for trading of digital coins, has seen a mammoth jump in the pace of sales and customer growth. While the ramp-up in activity has slowed somewhat as cryptocurrency prices retreated from highs set in December, the exchange still is recording large gains in activity compared with a year earlier.