<p>Bitcoin on Tuesday held ground just below its highest this year, touched a day earlier, with gains for the original cryptocurrency topping 27 per cent since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.</p>.<p>Bitcoin hit $48,234 on Monday evening, its highest since Dec. 31. It was last trading up 0.9 per cent at $47,553.</p>.<p>Its gains lifted smaller cryptocurrencies that tend to move in tandem with bitcoin. Ether, the second biggest token, hit $3,436 on Monday, its highest since early January.</p>.<p>Market players cited emerging signs of a new wave of adoption of crypto by institutional investors and financial firms, whose interest over the past two years has fuelled crypto's journey to mainstream asset from niche technology.</p>.<p>Bitcoin has risen over 12 per cent in the last week alone.</p>.<p>Among supportive comments cited were those by BlackRock Inc's chief executive, who said last week that the Russia-Ukraine war could end up accelerating digital currencies as a tool to settle international transactions.</p>.<p>Such moves signal "growing conviction that the crypto markets are worth dedicating more resources to," said Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at U.S. crypto firm Genesis.</p>.<p>Though bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now spoken of in the same breath as traditional assets from stocks and foreign exchange to bonds, its remains as volatile as ever.</p>.<p>Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $69,000 in November, before tumbling almost 30 per cent in just 24 days.</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>
<p>Bitcoin on Tuesday held ground just below its highest this year, touched a day earlier, with gains for the original cryptocurrency topping 27 per cent since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.</p>.<p>Bitcoin hit $48,234 on Monday evening, its highest since Dec. 31. It was last trading up 0.9 per cent at $47,553.</p>.<p>Its gains lifted smaller cryptocurrencies that tend to move in tandem with bitcoin. Ether, the second biggest token, hit $3,436 on Monday, its highest since early January.</p>.<p>Market players cited emerging signs of a new wave of adoption of crypto by institutional investors and financial firms, whose interest over the past two years has fuelled crypto's journey to mainstream asset from niche technology.</p>.<p>Bitcoin has risen over 12 per cent in the last week alone.</p>.<p>Among supportive comments cited were those by BlackRock Inc's chief executive, who said last week that the Russia-Ukraine war could end up accelerating digital currencies as a tool to settle international transactions.</p>.<p>Such moves signal "growing conviction that the crypto markets are worth dedicating more resources to," said Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at U.S. crypto firm Genesis.</p>.<p>Though bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now spoken of in the same breath as traditional assets from stocks and foreign exchange to bonds, its remains as volatile as ever.</p>.<p>Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $69,000 in November, before tumbling almost 30 per cent in just 24 days.</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>