Bitcoin Price Soars Above $5,000 to Record High

The price of bitcoin, the world's best-known cryptocurrency, has smashed through $5,000 to a new all-time high.

Bitcoin is now trading at $5,186 compared with $966 at the start of the year. The digital currency has soared 750% in the past year, and is now worth four times as much as an ounce of gold.

But the price has been volatile. Bitcoin plummeted below $3,000 in mid-September after Chinese authorities announced a crackdown on the digital currency. Beijing ordered cryptocurrency exchanges to stop trading and block new registrations, due to fears that increasing number of consumers piling into the market could prompt wider financial problems.

Using bitcoin allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment processes to pay for goods and services directly. Banks and other financial institutions have been concerned about bitcoin's associations with money laundering and online crime.

The soaring value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies comes despite growing warnings over a price bubble.