Bitcoin started the week surging to a new all-time high above $122,000, after breaking through various milestones in the past week.
The largest cryptocurrency was up 3.5% over 24 hours and has flown 12.25% higher over the past week.
It notched a high of just under $122,500 on Monday morning as the European trading session began, at the start of a week in US politics being dubbed 'crypto week' by the White House.
Ending last month at just over $105K, bitcoin's recent resurgence was confirmed when it broke above a previous all-time high from the turn of the year as it climbed over $113K on Thursday, before advancing to $118K in US trading hours on Friday and then ascending to $119K on Sunday.
Many cryptocurrencies have seen highs this year, after Donald Trump became president and has made various supportive moves for the sector, including an executive order to establish a national reserve of cryptocurrencies.
Over the past year, major financial institutions and retail investors have been moving into digital currencies via exchange-traded products.
Ethereum, the second largest crypto, was up 2.2% on Monday and 18% over the past week to climb back above $3,000 for the first time since February, when it also topped $4,000. It's all time high of over almost $4,700 was reached in 2021.
Other major cryptos were also on the rise, with XRP up 2.3% on the day and 30% over the past week, with Solana up 10% on the week and Dogecoin rising 20%.
Washington's House of Representatives will debate three pieces of cryptocurrency legislation this week, starting today.
- The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, known as the Clarity Act, aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets and cryptocurrencies
- The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) aims to create the first federal comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins
- The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act aims to block the issuance of a retail central bank digital currency, aka a digital dollar.
President Trump signed an executive order called ‘Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology’ in the first week of his second term as president.
The House financial services committee chairman, French Hill, said: "We are taking historic steps to ensure the United States remains the world’s leader in innovation and I look forward to ‘Crypto Week’ in the House."
"After years of dedicated work in Congress on digital assets, we are advancing landmark legislation to establish a clear regulatory framework for digital assets that safeguards consumers and investors, provides rules for the issuance and operation of dollar-backed payment stablecoins, and permanently blocks the creation of a CBDC to safeguard Americans’ financial privacy."
Alongside Hill's statement, Senator Cynthia Lummis said the state of Wyoming, which is aiming to issue the first fiat-backed, fully-reserved stablecoin issued by a public entity in the US, known as the ‘Wyoming Stable Token’, said she was "thrilled" with the prospect of passing stablecoin legislation that would help "establish clear market structure rules, and ensure that any central bank digital currency respects Americans’ privacy and financial freedom".