Bitcoin price briefly surges past $106k in new all-time high

The price of bitcoin briefly surged to a new all-time high overnight, surpassing $106,400 for the first time ever.

Bitcoin briefly surged to a new all-time high overnight, surpassing the all-important US$69,000 mark. Picture: CoinGecko

Bitcoin briefly surged to a new all-time high overnight, surpassing the all-important $US69,000 mark.

Early on Wednesday morning AEDT, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency hit $US69,202 ($A106,400).

That was a significant jump from the previous record of $US68,999.99 that was set in November 2021 at the height of global economic prosperity.

At the time of writing, bitcoin was trading a bit lower, at $US63,838.

It comes after two years of a “crypto winter” where the digital tokens were caught in the throes of a bear market.

Bitcoin’s stellar performance also lifted other smaller cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, which rose more than 4 per cent.

Ethereum was trading at more than $US3700 on Wednesday morning, but has now dropped to $US35000.

Since the start of the year, the Ether token was up by more than 135 per cent.

Pav Hundal, lead market analyst at Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, said that bitcoin’s trading volume is at a level which has not been seen since 2020.

Bitcoin has fought its wear out of a bear market. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP

“The market is flying and Aussie trading volumes are flying with it,” Mr Hundal said.

“People see rapid price increases over short time frames and it’s drawing experienced investors in.

“At this point, you’d have to say the market looks frothy and due a correction. But we haven’t ever seen a cycle like this one that’s being driven by institutional demand so, frankly, all bets are off.”

Bitcoin and meme coins like Shiba Inu and Doge are dominating volumes, with Gen X and Millennial crypto traders leading the charge.

The top-ranked cryptocurrency has had a meteoric rise in the past six months, up by nearly 160 per cent since October, of which 44 per cent came in February alone.

Bitcoin briefly surged past US$69,000 in new all-time high. Picture: CoinDesk

Investor interest has increased since the US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approved 11 spot bitcoin trading funds in late January.

“There’s only so much supply … but the demand unleashed by the U.S. spot ETFs seems to be relentless,” Justin d’Anethan, head of partnerships in Asia at Keyrock, a digital asset market maker, told Reuters.

But experts are now warning that cryptocurrency is due for a halving, though ironically, this usually does wonders for its price.

“The upcoming bitcoin halving in April is viewed as an additional positive indicator for its market dynamics,” Caroline Bowler of Australian firm BTC Markets said.

“The bitcoin halving typically impacts BTC price positively.

“The halving event occurs approximately every four years and involves a reduction in the rewards miners receive for validating transactions by half.

“This event is hard coded into bitcoin’s protocol and is designed to limit the total supply of bitcoin to 21 million.”

– With The New York Post