Bitcoin Trades Above $20,000 For First Time

Leading virtual currency bitcoin on Wednesday traded above $20,000 for the first time following a sustained run higher in recent weeks. Just 12 years old, bitcoin reached a record-high $20,398.50 before pulling back to $20,145, which was still an intra-day gain of nearly four percent. It has seen a meteoric rise since March, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would enable account holders to use cryptocurrency. A number of central banks have meanwhile responded to the rise of cryptocurrencies and the dwindling global use of cash by announcing plans for bank-backed digital units.