Bitcoin almost touches $60,000 after steep decline

ISTANBUL

The price of Bitcoin nearly hit $60,000 on Thursday, gaining back some of the major losses seen recently.

The price climbed to as high as $59,806 during the day.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency was trading around $59,636 at 3.53 p.m. EDT for a daily gain of 8.8%.

Ethereum, the world's largest altcoin by market cap, was trading at $2,581 for a daily increase of 9.6%.

The value of the cryptocurrency market stood at $2.09 trillion, rising 8.2% for the day, according to CoinMarketCap, a digital asset price-tracking website.

Bitcoin climbed to as high as $69,992 on July 29, two days after US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump laid out his plan to ensure that the country would be "the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world."

Cryptocurrencies, however, saw a steep decline beginning Aug. 1 when recession fears sent global markets into a freefall.

Bitcoin fell to as low as $49,551 on Monday.