Bitcoin has shattered the $100,000 milestone, riding a wave of investor confidence sparked by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto pivot.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged as high as $103,800 on Thursday, marking a 50 per cent rise since Trump’s November election win.
The rally intensified after Trump nominated crypto advocate, Paul Atkins, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling a shift toward a more favorable regulatory environment.
Atkins’ appointment, along with Trump’s pledge to make the U.S. “the bitcoin superpower of the world,” has electrified the market.
“Bitcoin reaching $100k is an incredible milestone for our movement,” said Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com. “We never doubted. We never wavered. And we will never stop building.”
Trump’s crypto-friendly administration has also tapped Howard Lutnick for the Commerce Department and Elon Musk to co-lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” humorously dubbed “DOGE” after the popular cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which has soared 150 per cent since election day.
According to Financial Times on Thursday, this surge marks a stark contrast to the sector’s downturn two years ago, when the collapse of FTX and regulatory crackdowns sent Bitcoin plummeting to $16,000.
Now, institutional money is flowing in, with BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF alone managing $45 billion in assets.
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, summed up the sentiment: “This bitcoin bull run is different. We have a pro-tech president-elect, a red Senate, a red House, and a mandate from the country to build.”
With $4.4 billion pouring into crypto ETFs since November, and companies like MicroStrategy planning to raise $42 billion for further Bitcoin investments, analysts predict a “golden era” for digital assets under the incoming administration.
Earlier in the first weeks of November, PUNCH Online reported Bitcoin smashed through the $80,000 milestone, reaching an all-time high of $81,858 amid post-election optimism in the US, as pro-crypto policies appear more likely under Trump.
Barely three days after, the world’s largest cryptocurrency reached a record high above $90,000.
Meanwhile, a check by PUNCH Online as at 5.33am on Coin Market Cap placed the coin at $102,724.32 with over 7 per cent increase in the last 24 hours.
Notably, Trump’s previous administration leaned heavily towards scepticism regarding digital currencies, but the president-elect has since embraced crypto, pledging to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.”
CNBC noted that Trump had promised to retain “100 per cent of all the Bitcoin the US government currently holds or acquires in the future” and to dismiss SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whose tenure saw over 100 regulatory actions against crypto firms.
