Bitcoin was headed for its third straight winning week as traders sought refuge amid volatile moves across equities, currencies and bond markets.
The token was up 4.6% week to date and hit a high of $82,272.31 overnight, its highest level since May 11, when bitcoin peaked at $82,499.99. It last traded at $81,151.10.
Bitcoin had languished for much of the year, trading broadly between $60,000 and $70,000 since early June.
The digital asset broke above $70,000 in late August and has continued to climb as the so-called debasement trade — a strategy in which investors move away from dollars and into assets such as cryptocurrencies and gold — regained momentum.
“The price breakout came towards the [end of August] with the re-emergence of the debasement trade re-igniting investor interest in BTC,” Dominika Nestarcova, a Goldman Sachs executive director covering digital assets, said in a note Thursday.
“The U.S. Treasury announced it would increase purchases of longer-dated Treasuries, long yields fell, the dollar weakened, and BTC and gold moved higher.”
Other cryptocurrencies also advanced. Ether rose to a high of $2,545.62 on Friday, its highest level since Aug. 27. Solana climbed as much as 5.4% to about $105.70, its highest price since Aug. 31.