Bitcoin smashed through the $12,000 barrier for the first time Wednesday, extending the virtual currency's stratospheric rise to new records as it gears up to take its place on mainstream markets.

The controversial cryptocurrency, which has been used to buy everything from a pizza to manicures, touched a new high of $12,590 in Asian trade before dipping back to $12,567, according to Bloomberg News.

Bitcoin -- which came into being in 2009 as a bit of encrypted software and has no central bank backing it -- has risen from a 2017 low of $752 in mid-January, and has surged dramatically in the past month.