The price of bitcoin continued its recent bullish surge last night, reaching a new all-time high of over $4,480.

The news follows days in which the climbing value of the digital asset has seen it repeatedly break new ground.

Since May, bitcoin had been fluctuating in the mid to high $2,000s, then August 4 saw enthusiastic trading that catapulted prices upwards – quickly reaching the $3,000 mark and just nine days later passing $4,000 for the first time ever.

In a likely surprise for those expecting a sell-off, a fall never came and, yesterday, bitcoin surged on to hit an astonishing $4,483 at around 3:50 a.m. UTC.

Reasons for the buoyant market have been put down to growing interest in the cryptocurrency space by institutional investors, alongside the passing of a split of the bitcoin network to form a new cryptocurrency on August 1. When that event – which saw the creation of a rival digital asset called bitcoin cash – passed uneventfully, money seemingly held back by cautious traders poured into the asset.

Since opening today at $4,382, however, prices across global exchanges have fallen somewhat, and at press time were around $4,200 – a drop of 4.15 percent, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index.

Looking at the industry more widely, the combined market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies today sits at around $138.7 billion – down from $141 billion yesterday, data from CoinMarketCap indicates. Bitcoin’s market cap currently stands at over $68 billion.

Trading chart image via Shutterstock