Bitcoin rises to new record high as investors snap up riskier assets
The cryptocurrency rose as high as US$124,563 early on Thursday (Aug 14) before giving up some gains to trade around US$121,200 at 6.45 am in New York. The milestone came soon after the S&P 500 closed at its own record for a second consecutive session, extending a summer run that has carried the benchmark to repeated highs.
Bitcoin has been steadily rising for most of the past year as a result of the friendly legislative climate in Washington ushered in by President Donald Trump. Public companies, led by Michael Saylor's Strategy, have boosted the demand by following an increasingly popular corporate tactic of stockpiling the original cryptocurrency. The playbook has recently spread to smaller competitors, like Ether, leading to a broad rise across digital assets.
Bitcoin's market cap rose to around US$2.5 trillion and Ether's to nearly US$575 billion, according to CoinGecko. Ether was trading just below its almost four-year old record on Thursday, changing hands at around the US$4,700 level.
'Crypto has been positively correlated to equities with the relationship stronger for ETH than BTC,' said Chris Newhouse, director of research at Ergonia. 'General sentiment looks positive.'
The coordinated move underscores how speculative market corners and mainstream benchmarks are drawing from the same well of optimism. US inflation data landed in line with expectations this week – and strengthened bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, easing financial conditions and encouraging capital to flow from blue-chip equities to volatile digital tokens.
Ether's rise has been propelled by sustained demand from newly active treasury firms, while Bitcoin's steadier climb has leaned on persistent exchange-traded inflows even as it has faced technical resistance.
'The combination of moderating inflation, growing expectations for rate cuts, and unprecedented institutional participation through ETFs has created a powerful tailwind,' said Ben Kurland, CEO at crypto research platform DYOR. 'What's different this time is the maturity of the demand base – this rally isn't just retail euphoria, it's structural buying from asset managers, corporates and sovereigns.' BLOOMBERG
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