Bitcoin touches $50,000 mark, reaching more than three-month high

The digital coin surged above that level around 10:40pm ET on Sunday, according to data from CoinDesk. It was trading at around $50,263 at 6:20am ET on Monday.

Bitcoin hit an all-time high over $64,000 in April but sold off heavily in June and July, even dipping below $30,000. One of the major reasons was renewed regulatory scrutiny from Chinese authorities which has forced bitcoin mining operations to shut down and move elsewhere.

But since mid-July, bitcoin has been on a steady rise.

In the last few days, two key announcements have been positive for the cryptocurrency space. Last week, Coinbase said it would buy $500 million in crypto on its balance sheet and allocate 10% of profits into a crypto assets portfolio.

On Monday, PayPal said it would launch its service to let people buy, hold and sell digital currencies, in the U.K.

Meanwhile, other digital coins were also higher. Ether was trading higher by about 2% at $3,330 Monday morning. Ethereum, the blockchain network powered by ether, activated a key upgrade earlier this month which helped lift the price.

SOURCE: CNBC