Just days after breaking the 2021 record price, Bitcoin has surged even higher early Friday, setting a new all-time high price above $70,000.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, rose as high as $70,099 on Friday per data from Coinbase, beating the previous record price of $69,324 from Tuesday. It's up 4% over the last 24 hours.
As on Tuesday, however, Bitcoin immediately dumped after setting the new record price: Coinbase shows a current price of $68,172, just minutes after reaching the fresh peak.
Bitcoin's renewed surge comes after a wild day on Tuesday, when the coin finally passed the $69,000 barrier to break its November 2021 record—but then quickly crashed, eventually falling below $61,000 by the mid-afternoon. Bitcoin quickly made up ground, returning to $66,000 by the end of the day, and then has gradually gained in the days since.
Bitcoin Continues to Fall After Hitting All-Time High. Is This Fine?
Bitcoin plunged on Tuesday shortly after the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization hit a new all-time high of $69,170 earlier that morning. The weeks-long climb in Bitcoin's price, sparked largely by the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in January, pushed Bitcoin past its all-time high set in November 2021. Crypto Twitter was in a state of euphoria—before the price of Bitcoin went into freefall. According to CoinGecko, Bitcoin plummeted 12% to just above $60,000 in five hours. It's shakily...
Bitcoin has had a monster month, rising by more than 60% over the last 30 days alone and doubling in price since last October.
This follows a prolonged bear cycle in which the coin fell to a recent low price of around $16,000 in November 2022, in the days following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
Bitcoin Sets New All-Time High—But What's the Actual Record Price?
The crypto industry rejoiced today on news that Bitcoin had broken its previous record for all-time highest (ATH) price. But whether the coin actually broke that record—and what the number to beat even was in the first place—depends on who you ask. Decrypt, for example, reported the news Tuesday morning based on American crypto exchange Coinbase showing a high price above $69,324 following numerous close calls since Monday. Coinbase's previous all-time high was listed under the $69,000 mark. Ro...
What's driving the recent surge? Excitement over January's approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is a key part of it, especially as the funds have seen billions of dollars' worth of record-breaking daily trading volume of late.
Also likely playing a role is next month's "halving" event, in which the amount of BTC given as a reward to Bitcoin miners will be slashed in half, slowing the expanding circulating supply. The halving happens approximately every four years, and typically has had an impact on Bitcoin's price.
Editor's note: This story was updated with additional details after publication.
