As bitcoin soars to all-time highs, the pace of gains is rapidly picking up speed.

For example, it took well over 1,000 days for each leg of bitcoin's climb from a few cents to $1,000, and from $1,000 to $2,000. But since bitcoin topped $2,000 for the first time this May, the digital currency has added each incremental $1,000 to its price in less than 100 days.

Each colored band in the chart below shows how long it took for bitcoin to climb from one psychologically key level to the other. The latest climb from $4,000 to $5,000 only took about 60 days.

Bitcoin is gaining $1,000 at a faster and faster pace

Source: CNBC analysis of CoinDesk data

Bitcoin hit a record high of $5,856.10 Friday, a sixfold increase for the year, according to CoinDesk. The digital currency now has a market capitalization of more than $90 billion.

Many analysts attribute bitcoin's gains this year to a surge of interest from institutional investors, who are betting on the digital currency's future as a store of value or means of payment.

One way to gauge new investor interest is to look at the growth of the "wallets" that digital currency investors use to store their coins. The number of wallets from major wallet company Blockchain.info has nearly doubled to 17.5 million on Thursday from about 9.2 million this time last year.