Bitcoin rose as high as $67,803 and Ether, the
second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value, hit $4,825 in early Asian hours.
Both have more than doubled since June and added nearly 70
percent against the dollar since the start of October.
"Crypto is where the fast money is at," said Chris
Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone. "(Ether) is trending
like a dream and I'd be long and strong here," he added.
"Clients are net long, with 79 percent of open
positions held long, and I can sense the $5k party could get going soon."
Momentum has been gathering since last month's launch of a
futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States raised
expectations of flow-driven gains.
Bitcoin inflows totalled $95 million last week, representing
the largest inflows of all digital assets, while inflows during an eight-week
bull run for the cryptocurrency were $2.8 billion, the CoinShares data showed
on Monday.
In recent weeks, Australia's biggest bank has also said it
will offer crypto trading to retail customers, Singaporean authorities have
sounded positive on the asset class and spillover from a positive mood in
stocks has lent support.
The moves have helped lift the total market capitalisation
of cryptocurrencies above $3 trillion, according to crypto price and data
aggregator CoinGecko.
On the CoinMarketCap platform, which tracks 13,796
cryptocurrencies, the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation was just below
$3 trillion at $2.92 trillion.
© Reuters