Bitcoin nears all-time high prior to biggest US crypto exchange listing

Bitcoin neared an all-time high on Monday ahead of a listing by the largest US cryptocurrency exchange.

The token rose as much as 2.6 percent to $61,229 — marking the highest level in nearly a month but still short of its March 13 peak at $61,742. Bitcoin is up almost ninefold in the past year, which towers above more traditional assets like stocks.

Wall Street is beginning to quickly embrace cryptocurrencies, as the direct listing of digital-token exchange Coinbase Global is also ramping up interest.

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Coinbase is set to go public on the Nasdaq on April 14, which will make it the first listing of its kind for a major cryptocurrency company — and will serve as a test of investor appetite for other start-ups in the sector.

"Coinbase listing on the Nasdaq is as bullish a signal as possible at this current stage," Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lender Nexo told Bloomberg News.

A growing list of companies interested in investing in Bitcoin have popped up in recent months. Earlier this year, Tesla disclosed a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and more recently started accepting it as a payment for electric cars.

Goldman Sachs also said it will offer investment vehicles for Bitcoin and other digital coin assets to private wealth clients. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley said it plans to give rich clients access to three funds that will offer crypto ownership.

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Recently, Paypal and Visa have also begun using cryptocurrencies as part of their payment process.

Other cryptocurrencies, such as second-ranked Ether, have also been rising in value. The overall value of more than 6,600 coins tracked by crypto data tracker CoinGecko.com recently surpassed $2 trillion, putting cryptocurrencies on par with massively traded companies such as Apple.