Bitcoin price passes $20,000, setting new record

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The price of one bitcoin rose above $20,000 on Wednesday. The new all-time record caps a year of gains for the world's most valuable cryptocurrency. The value of all bitcoin in circulation is now around $380 billion.

No single event seems to have pushed bitcoin's value over the $20,000 mark. But more and more companies, institutions, and wealthy individuals have started to see it as a worthwhile long-term investment, driving demand upward.

A software company called MicroStrategy has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into bitcoin in recent months. It recently announced it was raising another $400 million to buy bitcoin.

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