The price of bitcoin passed the $12,000 mark for the first time ever last night, and currently shows little sign of stopping.

Soon before press time, the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization had peaked at a new all-time high of $12,798.78, as per CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

Somewhat astonishingly, with today's low being $11,670, the record price marks a gain of $1,128 in less than 24 hours – a major move that defied predictions of a likely correction due to consistent overbought conditions over much of the last two weeks.

According to CoinMarketCap, bitcoin has risen 9.63 percent in 24 hours, and 18.74 percent over the last 7 days. Trading volumes have climbed slightly over the last day, most notably on South Korean exchanges.

It's worth noting that, just one year ago, a bitcoin was worth $764. The climb to today's high means the cryptocurrency has gained 1,574 percent over that time span.

In yet another new record, bitcoin's market cap has now leapt to $219.6 billion.

Dollars image via Shutterstock