Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high on Wednesday, surpassing its previous peak set in January, as improving risk sentiment following last month's tariff-driven market decline boosted investor confidence.
The leading cryptocurrency reached a peak of $109,760.08 and was recently trading 1.1% higher at $108,117.
Bitcoin’s rise was fueled by several factors, including reduced trade tensions between the United States and China, as well as Moody’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, which has led investors to look for alternative assets outside of the U.S. dollar.
"Now that January's high has been surpassed - and the 50 percent upside from April's lows has been achieved - bitcoin enters blue sky territory with tailwinds in the form of institutional momentum and a favorable U.S. regulatory environment," Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of digital asset trading platform Nexo, said in an emailed comment.
Bitcoin at times trades in a similar fashion to tech stocks and other assets that rise in value when investor sentiment is high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 30% from its early April low.
That has also coincided with continued weakness in the dollar, a further boost for bitcoin's exchange rate against the U.S. currency.
Crypto market participants often point to increased involvement from traditional financial firms as reasons for its gains.
This week they have referenced JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, a longtime crypto skeptic, who said the bank will let clients buy bitcoin. Earlier this month, was added to the S&P 500 index.
Coinbase said on Monday the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a probe into a recent data breach at the company.
"We're still in year four of the bitcoin price cycle - the year after the bitcoin halving when miner rewards are slashed in half - which historically means its best days are still ahead of it and - while macro uncertainty and the threat of further volatility remains, a target of $150,000 in 2025 is still very much on the cards," Trenchev said.
Meanwhile, ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, surprisingly did not rise in tandem with bitcoin. It was last down 0.5% at $2,513 .
Source: Reuters
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
