Bitcoin breaks its all-time high of USD 111,861: what drove the rise
On 22 May 2025, bitcoin reached a new all-time high (ATH), breaking through USD 111,861. The rise was driven by inflows into US bitcoin ETFs, corporate purchases and a more favourable regulatory environment in the United States. Uncertainty in the US Treasury market also played a part.
What drove the rise
Institutional investment and ETFs
In May 2025 alone, around USD 3.6 billion flowed into US bitcoin ETFs. MicroStrategy announced a bitcoin purchase worth roughly USD 765 million, taking the value of its bitcoin holdings above USD 63 billion.
Regulation in the USA
The GENIUS Act on stablecoin regulation was advancing in the Senate. President Donald Trump had also signed an executive order creating a US strategic bitcoin reserve. The market saw both as a signal that cryptocurrencies were getting a clearer legal framework.
Uncertainty in the bond market
Weak demand for 20-year US Treasuries and their yields rising above 5% prompted some investors to look for alternatives. In this situation, part of the market viewed bitcoin as “digital gold”.
What it meant for miners
- Higher earnings per unit of hashrate – at a higher bitcoin price, each TH/s earns more koruna, as long as difficulty doesn't rise at the same pace.
- Rising network difficulty – a higher price attracts new machines, so mining difficulty rises over the long term. Older and less efficient miners therefore become loss-making sooner.
We discuss how Bitcoin mining earnings are calculated and what affects them in our article Bitcoin mining in 2026. Current figures for specific machines are shown in our live ASIC miner profitability table.
Figures as of 22 May 2025
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| All-time high | USD 111,861 |
| Price at the time of writing | approximately USD 111,368 |
| Market capitalisation | roughly USD 2.2 trillion |
| Daily trading volume | around USD 91.89 billion |
At the time, some analysts expected a breakthrough above USD 120,000 in the following months. These are estimates, not a forecast that can be relied on.
What next
- What is Bitcoin – how it works and why its supply is limited.
- Bitcoin halving – why the block reward decreases and what that does to mining.
