Fast money drives Bitcoin, ether to new record highs

Sydney: Bitcoin and ether made record peaks in Asia trade on Tuesday as enthusiasm for cryptocurrency adoption and fears about inflation leant support to the asset class.

Bitcoin rose as high as $67,803 and ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value, hit $4,825 in early Asian hours.

Both have more than doubled since June and added nearly 70% against the dollar since the start of October.

"Crypto is where the fast money is at," said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone. "(Ether) is trending like a dream and I`d be long and strong here," he added.

"Clients are net long, with 79% of open positions held long, and I can sense the $5k party could get going soon."

Momentum has been gathering since last month`s launch of a futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States raised expectations of flow-driven gains.

Bitcoin inflows totalled $95 million last week, representing the largest inflows of all digital assets, while inflows during an eight-week bull run for the cryptocurrency were $2.8 billion, the CoinShares data showed on Monday.

In recent weeks, Australia`s biggest bank has also said it will offer crypto trading to retail customers, Singaporean authorities have sounded positive on the asset class and spillover from a positive mood in stocks has lent support.

The moves have helped lift the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies above $3 trillion, according to crypto price and data aggregator CoinGecko.

On the CoinMarketCap platform, which tracks 13,796 cryptocurrencies, the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation was just below $3 trillion at $2.92 trillion.