Bitcoin breached $23,000 for the first time in history as more Wall Street names crowd into the the world’s largest digital currency up 220 per cent this year. As momentum builds, analysts predict more gains ahead. The digital coin jumped more than 9 per cent on Thursday, touching a high of $23,256.92, according to a composite of prices compiled by Bloomberg. Bitcoin and the wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index have both more than tripled this year. Cryptocurrency-linked stocks in South Korea, Japan and China climbed. The rally in digital assets is polarizing opinion, given Bitcoin’s history of boom and bust. Proponents argue the cryptocurrency is muscling in on gold as a portfolio diversifier amid dollar weakness and potential inflationary pressure. Others see speculative fervor that will inevitably lead to a bust akin to the meltdown three years ago after a furious Bitcoin rally.