Bitcoin flirting with record highs

Bitcoin rose above US$60,000 (HK$468,000) to approach record highs over the weekend, breaking out of a two-week tight range and propelled by talk of constrained new supplies against evidence of wider adoption.

The cryptocoin hit US$61,222 on Saturday, its highest in nearly a month and was slightly lower at US$59,907 yesterday. Bitcoin is up 116 percent from the year's low of US$27,734 on January 4. On March 13, it hit a record US$61,781.

Justin d'Anethan, sales manager at Diginex in Hong Kong, said investors had focused on stock markets and other cryptocurrencies in the past two weeks. "That changed when we pierced through 60K. With miners not selling recently minted coins, on-exchange reserves hitting multi-year lows and an incessant stream of corporates, funds, large and small investors piling into BTC, we punched through," he said.