Bitcoin rose to its highest level since Feb. 23 on Tuesday amid continued interest in digital assets from big institutions.
The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 3.6% to around $53,761. Rival Ether also reached its highest point in two weeks, gaining 3.7% in the wake of Chinese beauty app Meitu Inc. saying it had bought not just Bitcoin, but Ether as well.
It is only the second time that bitcoin’s value has surpassed a $1 trillion after hitting that milestone for the first time on Feb. 19. Bitcoin’s market capitalization held above $1 trillion for a few days, before falling below that mark.
Even though bitcoin is sitting off of its all-time-high of $58,332.36, it has seen a huge rally. The digital currency is up over 80% this year and 570% higher over the last 12 months.
Bitcoin’s rally has been attributed to several factors including participation from larger institutional investors and some notable purchases from corporations. Tesla, Square and Microstrategy are among the companies that have purchased bitcoin.
Companies are also making acquisitions in the cryptocurrency space. PayPal on Monday said it will buy cryptocurrency security firm Curv.
