The price of bitcoin topped $72,000 on Tuesday as investors bet on the outcome of the US presidential election.

The digital currency rose 3.9 per cent to trade at a six-month high of $72,784.40 in New York on Tuesday, moving closer to the record high of nearly $74,000 set in March.

Bitcoin is seen as a so-called “Trump trade” because the Republican presidential candidate has pledged to make America “the bitcoin superpower of the world” if he is again elected president.

While polls show Trump is neck and neck with Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, markets are betting on a Trump victory.

Trump, who once called bitcoin a “scam”, has attempted to woo cryptocurrency investors during the presidential campaign and has pledged to fire Gary