Bitcoin vaulted past $120,000 for the first time on Monday, the latest milestone for the world’s largest cryptocurrency as investors bet on long-sought policy wins for the industry this week, which has been dubbed “crypto week” by US Republicans.
Bitcoin rose more than 3% to register a record high of $123,153.22 before easing, and was last up 0.5% at $119,750.86. The cryptocurrency is now up more than 27% on the year.
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The US House of Representatives is set to debate and likely pass a series of crypto-related bills this week. The bills could provide the digital asset industry with the nation’s regulatory framework it has long sought.
Those demands have resonated with US President Donald Trump, a Republican who has called himself the “crypto president” and urged policymakers to revamp rules in favour of the industry.
“It’s riding a number of tailwinds at the moment,” said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore, citing institutional demand, expectations of further gains and support from Trump as reasons for the bullishness.
“It’s been a very, very, strong move over the past six or seven days and it’s hard to see where it stops now. It looks like it can easily have a look at the $125,000 level,” he said.
The surge in bitcoin has sparked a broader rally across other cryptocurrencies over the past few sessions even as Trump’s chaotic tariff policies have knocked sentiment in other markets.
Ether , the second-largest token, reached a high of $3,081.94, its highest level since February 2, but is still down more than 10% on the year. XRP advanced 2.7% after climbing as much as 6.4% on the day.
The sector’s total market value has swelled to about $3.8 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Simon Peters, analyst at eToro, noted that bitcoin’s price had not hit a record high in other currencies such as the euro, suggesting that dollar weakness was behind some of the rise to a new record on Monday.
REUTERS
