Bitcoin rallied on Friday to within striking distance of its record high as the U.S. government's shutdown entered its third day.

The world's oldest cryptocurrency is trading up roughly 2% on the day at $123,874. That's about 1% below its all-time high price of just north of $124,000 that it reached in mid-August.

Investors are flocking to the decentralized asset after U.S. lawmakers failed to strike a deal on federal funding, forcing the U.S. government to shutdown on Wednesday. Bitcoin is up 12% this week alone.

"The shutdown matters this time around," wrote Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick. "During the previous Trump shutdown (22 Dec 2018 to 25 Jan 2019) Bitcoin was in a different place than now, so it did little."

"However, this year bitcoin has traded with 'US governmen

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