Hot bitcoin bounces to record high of $68,800

NEW YORK — Bitcoin has hit an all-time high less than two years after the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX damaged faith in digital currencies and sent prices plunging.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly surpassed $68,800 Tuesday, according to CoinMarketCap. That’s just above bitcoin’s previous record set in November 2021.

The volatile asset soon fell some, standing at just under $62,000 as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, but the price is still up more than 175% from a year ago.

The price has been fueled by the anticipation and eventual regulatory approval of spot bitcoin exchange traded funds earlier this year, which provided access to a much broader class of investors.

The price has surged about 60% since the approval of bitcoin ETFs in January, an easy way to invest in assets or a group of assets, like gold, junk bonds or bitcoins, without having to directly buy the assets themselves.

Bitcoin has a history of drastic swings in price — which can come suddenly and happen over a weekend or even overnight in trading that continues around the world at all hours, every day.

Bitcoin rocketed from just over $5,000 at the start of the pandemic to its November 2021 peak of nearly $68,790, in a period of surging demand for tech products.

Prices crashed during an aggressive series of Federal Reserve rate hikes intended to cool inflation, slow money flows and make risky investments potentially riskier. Then came the 2022 collapse of FTX, which left a significant scar on confidence in crypto.

At the start of last year, a single bitcoin could be had for less than $17,000. Investors, however, began returning in large numbers as inflation started to cool.