Bitcoin rose above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as Republican Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, fueling expectations that his administration will create a favorable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin’s price has more than doubled this year and is up nearly 45% in the four weeks since Trump’s landslide election victory, which saw pro-crypto lawmakers elected to Congress.
It last traded at $100,027 as of 0240 GMT, up 2.2% in the previous session, after earlier rising as high as $100,277.
“We are witnessing a paradigm shift. After four years of political purges, Bitcoin and the entire digital asset ecosystem are on the verge of entering the financial mainstream,” said Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of US crypto firm Galaxy Digital.
“This momentum is fueled by institutional adoption, advances in tokenization and payments, and a clear regulatory path.”
More than 16 years after its creation, Bitcoin appears on the cusp of mainstream acceptance, despite a history of naysayers and controversies.
“Bitcoin crossing $100,000 is just a milestone; it’s evidence of a tidal shift in finance, technology, and geopolitics,” said Hong Kong-based independent crypto analyst Justin D’Anethon.
“Dismissed as fiction, this figure stands as a reality.”
Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and amass a national reserve of bitcoin.
Crypto investors see an end to heightened scrutiny under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who said last week that he would step down in January when Trump takes office.
On Wednesday, Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, is involved in crypto policy as co-chair of the Token Coalition, which works to “develop best practices for digital asset issuance and trading platforms,” and the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
Several crypto companies, including Ripple, Kraken and Circle, are vying for a seat on Trump’s promised crypto advisory council, seeking a say in a planned overhaul of US policy, according to several digital asset industry executives.
Trump’s business may also have a stake in the sector. He unveiled a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September. Although detailed details about the business are not forthcoming, investors have taken his personal interest in this sector as a bullish signal.
Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to be bought Crypto As for the trading firm, the Financial Times reported last week, citing two people with knowledge of the talks.
Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, is close to acquiring all of Bakht’s stock, the FT reports.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a key Trump aide, is also a supporter of cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin’s rebound from a slide below $16,000 in late 2022 has accelerated, fueled by the acceptance of US-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January this year.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has long tried to prevent ETFs from investing in bitcoin, citing investor safety concerns, but the products have allowed more investors, including institutional investors, to gain exposure to bitcoin.
More than $4 billion has flowed into US-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds since the election.
“We were basically trading sideways for about seven months, then immediately after November 5, US investors started buying hands-over-fist,” said Joe McCann, CEO and founder of Asymmetric, a Miami digital asset hedge fund.
Options on BlackRock’s ETF had a strong debut in November with call options — the price of which continues to rise — more popular than puts. McCann calculated the put to call ratio at about 22 to one.
Crypto-related stocks have rallied along with the value of bitcoin, with shares of bitcoin miner MARA Holdings up nearly 65% in November.
Yet the rise is not without critics.
Two years ago, the industry was rocked by scandal following the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange and the jailing of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
The cryptocurrency The industry has also been criticized for its large energy usage, while crypto crime has also become a concern.
Market participants are keeping a close eye on what happens now that Bitcoin has broken above $100,000, with investors and speculators possibly looking to pocket their recent gains.
“But when we take out those sell orders, it could still go higher and go much faster,” said Steven McClurg, founder of Canary Capital, a digital asset investment firm. He said he expects the price of bitcoin to reach $120,000 by Christmas.