Bitcoin blasts to new all-time high of $6,450

London: Bitcoin climbed to a new all-time high of $6,450 on Wednesday, boosted by bets the cryptocurrency could enter the financial mainstream after the world`s largest derivatives exchange operator said on Tuesday it would launch bitcoin futures.

CME Group Inc said it would provide a regulated trading venue for the cryptocurrency market and would launch the new derivatives in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Bitcoin has had a bumper year with a more than sixfold increase in price, and has more than doubled in price since mid-September alone.

It was up 0.3 percent on Wednesday on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.