Bitcoin surpassed the $20,000 mark and was heading for its best day in six weeks on Friday as the Dollar declined.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap increased more than 7% to a fortnight-high of $20,796. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, edged up 5% to a two-week high of $20,796. Bitcoin declined to a low of $18,540 on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reports.

According to crypto analysts, there was no particular cause for the gains except for upbeat sentiment across asset classes on Friday, fuelled by a fall in the Dollar and a rally in Chinese stocks.

The increase led the total cryptocurrency market value to exceed $1 trillion.

Should the cryptocurrencies hold on to the gains until Sunday’s close, Bitcoin may record a second consecutive weekly rise and its best in around a month, the Reuters report adds.

Weekend volatility may be increased for Ether by the upcoming upgrade known as the ‘Merge’ later this month, the exact date of which has not as yet been determined.

The upgrade promises to reduce the amount of energy required to create new coins and undertake transactions. The new proof-of-stake system will reduce the energy consumption on the Ethereum blockchain by 99.9%, according to developers.

As well as Bitcoin and Ether, all large-cap network tokens recorded price increases. Cardano, Solana, Polkadot and Polygon added between 5% and 10% to their respective market capitalisations.

Over the past week, Terra Classic has stayed the top performer, doubling its market cap to surpass $3 billion, Investing.com reports. 

The Terra Classic profits came despite its link with the now defunct Terra (LUNA) token that collapsed in May