Bitcoin reached a new all-time high on Wednesday, surpassing its previous peak from January as investor risk appetite improved following last month’s tariff-driven selloff.
The cryptocurrency hit a high of $109,760 and was last trading up 1.1% at $108,117.
The rise comes amid easing trade tensions between the United States and China, as well as Moody’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, which has encouraged investors to seek alternatives to the dollar. Bitcoin’s price movement has also mirrored trends in technology stocks, with the Nasdaq up 30% from its early April lows, and benefited from continued weakness in the U.S. dollar.
Increased participation from traditional financial institutions has further supported bitcoin’s growth. JPMorgan recently announced it will allow clients to purchase bitcoin, and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was recently added to the S&P 500 index. However, Coinbase also revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into a recent data breach at the company.
Despite bitcoin’s surge, ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, did not follow the same upward trajectory and was down 0.5% at $2,513.
