Bitcoin Prices Pass $4,000 for the First Time

The continuing surge in the price of bitcoin has seen it climb to over $4,000 for the first time since the cryptocurrency was created in January 2009.

According to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, the average price of bitcoin across global exchanges today reached a height of $4,225 at 9:07 a.m. UTC, having opened at $3,917. At press time, the price had dropped slightly to $4,162.

The new record follows days in which bitcoin has been setting consecutive all-time highs following a relatively static period when prices sat at around $2,700. That lull indicated a cautious market in the approach to the bitcoin fork that created a new cryptocurrency, bitcoin cash, on August 1.

Fears over the split, that some feared would lead to instability, now seem to be allayed, as indicated by the positive price moves since.

The total value of all cryptocurrencies has also set yet another new all-time high, with the combined market capitalization now sitting at over $137 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. That figure is $11 billion more than the previous high noted by CoinDesk just two days ago, when all crypto assets had a value of $126 billion.

While bitcoin has seen an over 10 percent increase in market cap in the past 24 hours, some other cryptocurrencies have seen increases of over 20 percent, including IOTA and neo, and others have even seen increases of around 30 percent, including decent, nexus and binance coin.

Not all cryptocurrencies have faired so well, though, with ethereum showing -4 percent for the last 24 hours, Ripple, -5.5 percent, and bitcoin cash, -8.2.

In the basket image via Shutterstock