© Reuters. Bitcoin once again reaches record highs, rising above $4,400

Investing.com - The price of the digital currency bitcoin rose to record levels once again on Thursday following two days of sideways trading.

On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, touched a high of $4,489.1. It was last at $4,409.0, up $51 or 1.17%.

Since setting its most recent all-time high of $4,430 on Aug.15, prices have fluctuated in a range of $4,000 to $4,200.

Bitcoin has more than quadrupled in value so far this year and has gained around 55% in August. The surge means that the total market cap of bitcoin has now risen to around $73 billion.

Bitcoin has rallied to a series of record highs amid optimism that a software update designed to improve the coin's scalability and make it faster to process transactions will speed up the spread of the cryptocurrency.

New software called Segregated Witness, or SegWit was successfully adopted by the blockchain supporting bitcoin last week.

The software was developed as a solution to the cryptocurrency’s scaling problem, which led to a split or so-called ‘hard fork’ on August 1 when the blockchain supporting bitcoin split into two, creating Bitcoin Cash.

Meanwhile, Australia announced plans on Thursday to , including bitcoin.

The move will bring digital currency providers under the remit of Austrac, the government's financial intelligence agency.

Australia’s move to regulate cryptocurrencies follows a similar decision by Japan.

Tokyo’s decision to regulate bitcoin followed the 2014 bankruptcy of Mt Gox, the world’s largest virtual currency exchange.

By regulating the currency, Japan officially recognized bitcoin as a legal method of payment. Analysts say this has helped the price of bitcoin surge to record highs.

Elsewhere in cryptocurrency trading, , the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap after bitcoin, was up 2.65% to $307.87.

, the newly created offshoot of bitcoin, was up 1.08% at $300.3, while lost 0.53% to trade at 15 cents.

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