Bitcoin jumps to record on institutional investor demand

NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Bitcoin rallied to an all-time high on Friday, powered by demand from institutional investors and crypto-friendly policies from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

The world's largest cryptocurrency rose to a peak of $116,781.10 in the Asian session on Friday, taking its gains for the year so far to more than 24%. It was last trading at $116,563.11.

"Bitcoin's new all-time high is being driven by relentless institutional accumulation - major players are scooping up supply and drying up liquidity on exchanges," said Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association.

In March, Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies. He has also appointed several crypto-friendly individuals, including Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins and White House artificial intelligence czar David Sacks.

Trump's family businesses have also made forays into cryptocurrencies. Trump Media & Technology Group is looking to launch an exchange-traded fund to invest in multiple crypto tokens including Bitcoin, an SEC filing on Tuesday showed.

Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, similarly jumped nearly 5% to $2,956.82, after earlier hitting a five-month high of $2,998.41.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Richard Chang, Christian Schmollinger and Kate Mayberry)