Bitcoin experienced a 7% increase today, reaching all-time highs in many countries in Asia and South America, bringing the cryptocurrency closer to its peak against the US dollar. Bitcoin price surged over 7% in the last 24 hours, reaching an intraday and six-week high of $71,650 on May 21.
Bitcoin Breaks Record After Record
According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin is trading just 3.4% below its all-time high of $73,738 on March 14 in USD terms. However, this significant move pushed Bitcoin to new peaks against many fiat currencies. According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of 11.2 million yen in early trading on May 21 in Japan. The asset’s value surpassed 11 million JPY for the first time. The local currency has depreciated by 10% against the US dollar since the beginning of the year.
Bitcoin prices in Argentina also peaked at 63.8 million Argentine pesos (ARS) on May 21, slightly higher than the mid-March peaks. The South American country is currently battling high inflation at around 290% and currency devaluation over the past few years.
Similarly, on May 21, Bitcoin briefly reached a record high of 4.18 million pesos (PHP) in the Philippines, surpassing the mid-March peak. According to a sector observer, countries where Bitcoin prices equaled or closely approached the mid-March peak prices include the UK, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Norway, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey.
Notable Details
Hours ago, crypto analyst Willy Woo observed that a month’s worth of Bitcoin short positions in the futures market had just been liquidated and commented:
“A further layer needs to be passed to surpass all-time highs shortly.”
Meanwhile, Coinglass reported that 79,010 investors were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with total crypto liquidations amounting to $345 million, 78.5% of which were short positions. Markus Thielen, head of research at 10x Research, projected in a market update earlier this week that a break above $67,500 could potentially lead to all-time highs.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $70,532, just $2,913 below its all-time high in USD terms.