Bitcoin sets new all-time high, as investors eye $35,000

After a record-setting 2020, Bitcoin has made a strong start to the year. Since shattering its own records twice in less than 24 hours, the world’s premier cryptocurrency has topped the $34,000 mark for the first time ever. The price of bitcoin has risen another 13 percent to reach a new all-time high of $34,000 with a record $75 billion in daily trading volumes.

According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin was valued at $34,789 at 7:49am GMT. It is estimated that its market capitalization hovers around $640 billion.

Bitcoin advanced nearly 50 percent in December, when it breached $20,000. It almost tripled in value in 2020 after buyers, in the midst of a declining currency, switched to crypto markets. In addition, for many years, the US Federal Reserve has been preparing to leave interest rates near zero, driving cash inflows into the world’s number one digital asset.

This isn’t the first price rise for Bitcoin. In 2017, the token had a powerful run and reached a then-record high of over $20,000. However, on the news that Chinese authorities continued their crackdown on cryptocurrency firms, its price fell by around 80 percent to just over $3,000 by early 2019.