Bitcoin (BTCUSD) Soars to a Fresh Record as Cryptocurrencies Gain New Legitimacy on Capitol Hill and Wall Street.

Bitcoin jumped as high as $109,900 around midday Wednesday, surpassing the previous record reached in the lead-up to President Trump's inauguration in January.  The digital currency slipped to around $108,000 in recent trading, tracking a decline in U.S. stocks.

Bitcoin price today slipped from a fresh record high hit earlier in the session, as gains in U.S. stocks stalled and the digital currency tracked a decline in broader markets.

Bitcoin jumped as high as $109,900 around midday Wednesday, surpassing the previous record reached in the lead-up to President Trump’s inauguration in January. The digital currency slipped to around $108,000 in recent trading.

Once a fringe financial asset dismissed by the mainstream, cryptocurrencies have gained new legitimacy this year thanks to the support of President Trump and several allies in Congress. The Senate on Monday voted to advance a bill that establishes a regulatory framework for stablecoins, putting the upper chamber of Congress on track to pass its first piece of cryptocurrency legislation. And earlier this year President Trump ordered the Treasury to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

The administration’s focus on crypto follows reports that members of Trump’s inner circle, including son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House adviser Gary Cohn, urged the president to intervene in the 2017 Bitcoin crash. At the time, Trump largely ignored entreaties from establishment Republicans and major donors, who urged him to bail out the floundering cryptocurrency.

But Trump later took an interest in cryptocurrency and began discussing it frequently with aides, according to two people familiar with the matter. The president’s interest in Bitcoin was evident in his public statements.

In March, Trump said he wasn’t a “fan” of Bitcoin but that he liked the concept of cryptocurrency. At the time, he said he wasn’t planning to create a U.S. version of Bitcoin. But in April, Trump said he was working on an “excellent” cryptocurrency that would be "the best, and the strongest, and it's going to be a beautiful currency."

Earlier this year, Trump also said he wasn’t happy with the Federal Reserve’s handling of the economy and that he might create a new currency if he was elected for a second term.

Trump’s focus on cryptocurrency follows a year of booming demand for digital assets. Bitcoin price soared to a record high above $80,000 in December, while ether hit a peak of over $700. The cryptocurrency market cap rose to a record of $3.3 trillion in January.

The cryptocurrency rally was fueled by several factors, including the pandemic-induced stimulus that poured money into financial markets, the rising popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, and the increasing acceptance of cryptocurrencies by mainstream institutions.

Several major financial institutions, like investment bank Morgan Stanley and asset manager BlackRock, have already waded into crypto offerings. On Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, a longtime crypto skeptic, said the bank would allow clients to buy bitcoin.

"We're not going to make a market in it. But if a client wants to buy it in a trust, we can do that," Dimon said at a banking conference in Boston.

The bank has no plans to create its own cryptocurrency, he added.

JPMorgan's move comes as more and more institutions are opening up to crypto. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley began offering clients access to three bitcoin funds, while BlackRock launched a blockchain initiative to explore new technologies in the digital asset space.

The bank's decision to offer bitcoin products is a significant development in the cryptocurrency market. It could lead to even more financial institutions offering crypto products and services in the future.

Bitcoin ETFs also saw substantial inflows in the last month as investors piled into risk assets amid easing trade tensions.

Investors have pumped an estimated $6.5 billion into BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the last month, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

The influx of money has pushed it up to 5th from 47th in the ranking of U.S. ETFs with the greatest year-to-date inflows.

At current prices, the iShares Bitcoin Trust has a total of about $13 billion in outstanding shares. That's less than half the $28 billion in outstanding shares of the iShares CORE U.S. Total Stock Market (ITWM).

Bitcoin miners are also set to pour more money into the coin as they become more profitable with the rising price of bitcoin and the introduction of the Bitcoin Treasurys.

At current prices, Bitcoin has a market cap of about $2.13 trillion, while the S&P 500 has a market cap of about $50 trillion.

Bitcoin price is also being supported by surging demand from Bitcoin Treasurys.

Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR), which originated the scheme, purchased $765 million worth of Bitcoin last week, bringing the value of its Bitcoin holdings to more than $63 billion.

Last month, a blank check company headed by Brandon Lutnick, the son of President Trump'