Bitcoin (BTC) surged 8.26% early Friday to breach the psychological $20,000 level and lead the broader crypto market’s recovery.
The industry’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap plummeted as low as $18,644 on Wednesday and was mostly trading between $19,200 and $19,300 yesterday.
Today’s breakout, however, pushed the price of Bitcoin to $20,808 by press time, a level not seen since August 26, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The bullish price action also helped to propel the cumulative market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies back above the $1 trillion mark, with Bitcoin currently dominating 38.5% of the market.
Ethereum (ETH) has meanwhile surged 5.2% over the past 24 hours and is currently changing hands at $1,706, per CoinMarketCap.
Similar to Bitcoin, this is a two-week high for the market’s second-largest cryptocurrency, which is now in the final stages of preparing for the historical merge event that will see the network transition from its current proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm to a less energy-intensive proof-of-stake (PoS) model.
Solana, Polkadot post solid gains
Elsewhere in the market, Solana (SOL) has been the best-performing asset among the top ten cryptocurrencies as the price of the token rallied 9.3% over the past 24 hours to hit a daily high of $35.66.
Polkadot (DOT) is on a similarly impressive run—the 10th largest asset is up 9.6% on the day, changing hands at $7.80.
