On Tuesday morning, bitcoin briefly reached an all-time high price of $69,210, according to Coin Metrics. It fell later that afternoon, but hovered around $66,400 as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
The new record had been a long time coming: It’s been over two years since the cryptocurrency reached its previous high of around $68,982 on Nov. 10, 2021.
One factor that appears to be fueling bitcoin’s recent rise is the debut of bitcoin ETFs. In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, allowing investors to purchase bitcoin ETFs through their brokerage accounts and gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without having to buy and store it themselves or through a crypto exchange.
The digital token’s rise also helped boost the price of other virtual coins, including ether, which reached its highest price level since January 2022 on Wednesday.
Although bitcoin’s recent success may make it tempting to…


