Bitcoin achieved record-breaking highs in multiple countries across Asia and South America, following a significant 7% surge in value. This surge brought the cryptocurrency closer than ever to its peak in United States dollars.
On May 21, Bitcoin (BTC) reached an intraday and six-week high of $71,650, experiencing a gain of over 7% in the past 24 hours. According to CoinGecko, the asset is now within 3.4% of its all-time high in U.S. dollars, which was $73,738 on March 14.
However, this substantial increase in value also resulted in new peaks for Bitcoin against various fiat currencies. CoinMarketCap reported that in Japan, BTC reached an all-time high of 11.2 million yen during early trading on May 21, surpassing 11 million yen for the first time. The Japanese currency has weakened against the U.S. dollar in recent months, losing 10% since January.
Argentina also saw Bitcoin prices soar, with the asset reaching 63.8 million Argentine pesos on May 21, slightly higher than the previous high in March. The country has been grappling with inflation rates of 290% and currency devaluation in recent years.
Similarly, in the Philippines, 1 Bitcoin briefly reached a record high of 4.18 million pesos on May 21, surpassing the mid-March highs. Several other countries, including Britain, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Norway, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey, also experienced BTC prices equaling or coming close to their mid-March peak prices, as noted by industry observer Thomas Fahrer on X.
Earlier, crypto analyst Willy Woo observed that a month’s worth of Bitcoin short position buildup had been liquidated, indicating a potential short-squeeze past the all-time highs. Coinglass reported that within the past 24 hours, 79,010 traders were liquidated, with total crypto liquidations amounting to $345 million, and 78.5% of these were short positions.
Markus Thielen, the head of research at 10x Research, predicted that a breakthrough above $67,500 could lead to new all-time highs. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $70,945, just $2,500 shy of a new all-time high in U.S. dollars.