Bitcoin touches $29,000 for another high in banner year

Bitcoin vaulted above $29,000 to reach yet another record level on the last day of 2020, showing no signs of slowing down its torrid December rally.

The largest cryptocurrency climbed to as high as $29,292 before pulling back slightly to trade at $28,520 as of 9:12 a.m. in Hong Kong Thursday. It has advanced almost 50% in December, on track for its biggest monthly gain since May 2019.

Bitcoin has now quadrupled in value this year amid the global coronavirus pandemic, while the wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index tracking the largest digital currencies is up about 280% as rival coins such as Ether have also rallied.