Bitcoin catapulted above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday, a milestone hailed even by sceptics as a coming-of-age for cryptocurrencies as investors bet on a friendly U.S. administration to cement cryptos' place in financial markets.

The total value of the cryptocurrency market has almost doubled over the year so far to hit a record just shy of $3.8 trillion, according to data provider CoinGecko. By comparison, Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab alone is worth about $3.7 trillion.

Bitcoin's march from the libertarian fringe to Wall Street has minted millionaires, a new asset class and popularised the concept of "decentralised finance" in a volatile and often controversial period since its creation 16 years ago.

Bitcoin has more than doubled in value this year and is up more than 50% in the four weeks since Donald Trump's sweeping election victory, which also saw a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers being elected to Congress.

Once it broke $100,000 in Thursday's Asian morning, it was soon above $103,000 on its way to an all-time high of $103,619, a surge of about 6% on the day. It was last fetching $101,933.

"We're witnessing a paradigm shift," said Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of U.S. crypto firm Galaxy Digital.

"Bitcoin and the entire digital asset ecosystem are on the brink of entering the financial mainstream - this momentum is fuelled by institutional adoption, advancements in tokenisation and payments, and a clearer regulatory path." (Reuters)