Bitcoin breaks above $20,000 for first time

Bitcoin smashed through $20,000 for the first time on Wednesday, its highest ever.

The cryptocurrency jumped 4.5 percent to move as high as $20,440. It has gained more than 170 percent this year, buoyed by demand from larger investors attracted to its potential for quick gains, purported resistance to inflation and expectations it will become a mainstream payment method.

Bitcoin’s blistering rally has seen a massive flow of coin to North America from East Asia, fuelled by hunger for bitcoin among bigger and compliance-wary US investors.

The rally in bitcoin, which some investors have seen as a potential safe-haven, has coincided with spot gold’s drop in recent months.

Some investors such as hedge funds and family offices have in the past been deterred by the opaque nature of the crypto market. Tightening oversight of the American crypto industry has helped soothe some of those concerns.