Bottom line: Bitcoin is taking flight once again. The highly volatile cryptocurrency reached a new all-time high of $66,943.50 on Wednesday - nearly $1,400 above the previous all-time high of $64,888.99 set back in April of 2021. What are the short-term and long-term ceilings of Bitcoin? It's anyone's guess at this point.
Bitcoin's latest run is largely credited to the successful debut of the first US Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund earlier this week. According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin has generated returns north of 122 percent year-to-date.
As the publication highlights, the aforementioned exchange-traded fund garnered a trading volume of more than $1 billion on its first day, making it one of the most successful launches ever. Additional futures-based ETFs could debut in the US in the coming weeks, which could push Bitcoin's value even higher.
Other cryptocurrencies are also cashing in on Bitcoin's success, as they often do. Ethereum, for example, is trading at $4,048.89 as of this writing, which is roughly $300 shy of its all-time high. Dogecoin, the meme-inspired crypto that started out as a joke, is changing hands around the $0.25 mark - still well shy of its all-time high of $0.74 achieved in May 2021.
Proponents of the decentralized cryptocurrency have speculated that it could hit $100,000, perhaps by the end of the year. Critics, meanwhile, have been calling for Bitcoin's demise for years. Each dip is said to be the straw that broke the camel's back, yet remarkably, the resilient virtual currency somehow comes back stronger than ever.
Either way, it's going to be a wild ride. Get your popcorn ready.
Image credit Alesia Kozik