Bitcoin tops $9,000 in historic first

The price of a bitcoin has continued to rise overnight, passing $9,000 for the first time this morning.

Since setting new highs yesterday, prices climbed more or less steadily until finally passing $9,000 at 06:40 UTC today. The new record of $9,043.21 was reached roughly 35 minutes later, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

At press time, prices are at $8,970 levels – up 2.43 percent for the session. CoinMarketCap data indicates that bitcoin has risen 6.16 percent in 24 hours, and 16.27 percent over the last seven days.

Bitcoin's amazing gains have helped drive the combined market value for all cryptocurrencies to yet another at new high of $285 billion. Bitcoin's market capitalization is now almost $151 billion.