Bitcoin (BTC-USD) approached all-time highs on Saturday, climbing back above the $60,000 (£43,768) threshold for the first time in almost a month.
The cryptocurrency, which has been up and down over the last few weeks, jumped to more than $61,000 before retreating slightly. It is currently 4.8% higher on the day at $60,820.
It came as Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap, also hit a record, climbing to $2,190 for the first time in its history.
In late February, Bitcoin saw a retreat to as low as $43,000 amid uncertainty in the traditional markets over stimulus expectations and their positive effects on US bond yields.
The market value of all bitcoin in circulation hit $1trn for the first time earlier this year, data website CoinMarketCap revealed. In December it also soared past Visa (V) to make it the world’s largest financial service.
The cryptocurrency has been fuelled over the last 12 months by acceptance from mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Mastercard (MA).
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In February, Tesla invested $1.5bn in bitcoin, and said it may even start accepting it as payment for its products.
The automotive company’s founder Elon Musk also commented that investing in Bitcoin is a “less dumb form of liquidity than cash.”
“To be clear, I am not an investor, I am an engineer,” he said on Twitter. I don’t even own any publicly traded stock besides Tesla.”
He added: “However, when fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere. Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is “almost”.
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Bitcoin started 2020 at around $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment.
However, a survey published earlier this year showed almost two-thirds of UK investors intend to buy bitcoin in 2021.
The news comes just days ahead of Coinbase’s listing on the Nasdaq (^IXIC). The crypto trading platform is due to list on Wednesday with a valuation that could run in excess of $90bn.
Coinbase revealed earlier this week that active users on its platform had surged to 6.1 million from 2.8 million in the fourth quarter of last year, while verified users, those with Coinbase accounts, jumped to 43 million to 56 million.
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