The largest digital asset by market value rose as much as 1.9% to $68,991 on Wednesday, topping the previous high set late Monday in New York trading.
The rise in the token can, at least partly, be explained through the fundamental argument – which has gained traction in recent months – that Bitcoin can act as an inflation hedge.
consumer prices rose last month at the fastest annual pace since 1990, cementing high inflation as a hallmark of the pandemic recovery and eroding spending power even as wages surge.
Major Wall Street players have said they’ve bought the coin – or become interested in it – thanks to the inflationary-hedge thesis.
Cam Harvey at Duke University has made that argument in the past, saying that theoretically, if investors come to regard it as similar to gold, Bitcoin might hold its value over a very long term — as in a century or more.
“People are looking for places to put their money,” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said by phone.