Bitcoin nears $9,000 as it breaks through its highest level this year

The bitcoin cryptocurrency has seen a renewal of interest in the past few weeks and its price is up over 140% so far this year.

There has been an increase in major companies experimenting or bringing out cryptocurrency-related products. For example, Taiwanese phone maker HTC released a phone focused on helping people store their digital coins, while Facebook is reportedly working on its own cryptocurrency

Fidelity, meanwhile, launched a new company to help institutional investors trade bitcoin.

Other cryptocurrencies were also higher on Monday. Ethereum, the second largest digital coin by value, was up over 7% from the day before at around 9:50 a.m. HK/SIN.

Bitcoin is still well off its all-time high of over $19,000 in late 2017 when a buying frenzy from retail investors sent cryptocurrency prices soaring.