Bitcoin: The world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency hit $61,222.22

Bitcoin broke out of a two-week tight range over the weekend, rising above $60,000 and approaching record highs, driven by talk of limited new supply amid signs of wider acceptance.

On Saturday, the world's largest and most well-known cryptocurrency reached $61,222.22, its highest level in nearly a month. At 0500 GMT on Sunday, it was marginally lower at $59,907, down from $59,907 the day before.

Bitcoin (BTC) is up 116% from the year’s low of $27,734 on Jan. 4. It crossed the $60,000 mark for the first time on March 13, hitting a record $61,781.83 on Bitstamp exchange, just after U.S. President Joe Biden signed his $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus package into law.

Justin d’Anethan, sales manager at digital asset company Diginex in Hong Kong, said investors had turned their attention to stock markets and other cryptocurrencies in the past couple of weeks, leaving Bitcoin idling in the upper 50-thousand dollar levels.

“That changed just yesterday 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.

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Bitcoin’s stunning gains this year have been driven by its mainstream acceptance as an investment and a means of payment, accompanied by the rush of retail cash into stocks, exchange-traded funds and other risky assets.

Bitcoin's spectacular gains this year have been driven by its widespread adoption as an investment and a form of payment, as well as a flood of retail money into stocks, exchange-traded funds, and other risky assets.