Bitcoin Hits $66,000 for the First Time

 

Bitcoin has set a new record reaching a new all-time high of $66,000 on Wednesday.

 

The latest climb was fueled by its first-ever exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to official data.

 

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap, saw its price climbing to $66,200 level at 9.45 a.m. EDT (1345GMT), the data showed.

 

The new record came amid the much-anticipated first Bitcoin-linked ETF started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday with a ticker BITO.

 

BITO closed Tuesday at $41.94, up 4.85% from its initial price of $40, while it saw a $1-billion trading volume on the first day of trading, bringing in around $570 million of assets on its debut.

 

The last time Bitcoin broke a record above the key resistance level of $64,000 came on April 14, according to the data.

 

Between April and July, however, the price of Bitcoin had plummeted by more than 50%, diving to below $30,000 on July 20, to as low as $29,341.

 

Cryptocurrencies lost more than half of their values during those three months in a major market selloff.

 

Since July, the Bitcoin-led crypto market has recovered.

 

The total value of the crypto market stood just above $2.56 trillion, with Bitcoin dominating with a 47.4% share at 9.45 a.m. EDT (1345 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the latest data by digital asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.