No doubt partially fueled by expectations of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:COIN) gaining regulatory approval later this month, Bitcoin prices have surged to new all-time highs — and have actually achieved parity with gold for the first time in history.

The cryptocurrency is thus now living up to its moniker of “digital gold.” As MarketWatch points out, Bitcoin surpassed gold’s per-ounce price in the most widely-used benchmarks this morning:

The price of a single bitcoin rose to an all-time high of $1,251.32 on Thursday, surpassing the price of a single ounce of gold, according to CoinDesk’s bitcoin price index. Bitcoin traded on certain Chinese exchanges briefly overtook gold in early February. But this is the first time in the digital currency’s eight-year history that it has done so according to most widely used bitcoin-price benchmarks.

CoinDesk provides some additional color on the historic move:

The per-ounce spot price for gold is $1,237.73, according to the XAU/USD spot exchange rate provided by Bloomberg Markets. Bitcoin’s price, by comparison, is at $1,238.11, having opened the day at $1,230.02, BPI data shows.

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Markets have seen dizzying changes in recent weeks, breaking through a three-year-old high on 23rd February. Prices have largely continued to climb since.

Image courtesy of CoinDesk

With the SEC’s self-imposed deadline of March 11 rapidly approaching, don’t be surprised to see BTC’s price continue to surge well into next week.

The first (hopefully) officially-listed Bitcoin ETF, the brainchild of the famous Winklevoss twins, has been four years in the making. Regulators have forced over a dozen revisions of the fund’s prospectus and other official documents in that time frame, as they wrangle with Bitcoin’s inherent volatility and liquidity issues.

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