New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS): The world's most well-known cryptocurrency Bitcoin smashed through $34,000 for the first time ever in its entire history of 12 years on Sunday.

Once the price of the leading cryptocurrency crossed the $30,000 mark for the first time -- something it had struggled to do for the last couple of days -- it exploded upwards reaching a new all-time high of $33,136.92 and then continuing the push, breaching $34,000 hours later, reports CoinDesk.

The latest gains come two days after bitcoin closed out a year in which the cryptocurrency rose more than 300 per cent, with an almost 50 per cent gain in December alone.

"Bitcoin price is being driven by institutional money and there is not enough supply. The number of family offices asking to invest in our ETP is just staggering. I've never seen this before. In 2017 it was just retail knocking at the door now it's only institutional," the report quoted Laurent Kssis, Managing Director at 21Shares as saying.

Buyers are aggressively accumulating more and more Bitcoin (BTC). This is the driving factor that has propelled the price growth of BTC towards this new all-time high value.

Meanwhile, the market capitalization of Bitcoin has also skyrocketed above the $600 billion mark.

Debate on whether Bitcoin should be seen as a form of money, an asset, or a commodity has been raging on since the cryptocurrency was launched in 2009.

After the unit crossed $1,000 for the first time in 2013, it has been increasingly attracting the attention of financial institutions.