Bitcoin has surpassed the $100,000 mark, fueled by a surge of investor confidence following U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency reached as high as $103,800 on Thursday, representing a 50% increase since Trump’s victory in the November election.
The rally gained momentum after Trump nominated crypto advocate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling a shift towards a more favorable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
Atkins’ appointment, combined with Trump’s pledge to make the U.S. “the bitcoin superpower of the world,” has further energized 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 appointed Howard Lutnick to the Commerce Department and Elon Musk to co-lead the newly created “Department of Government Efficiency,” humorously named “DOGE” after the popular cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Since the election, Dogecoin has surged by 150%.
This rally contrasts sharply with the downturn seen two years ago, when the collapse of FTX and increased regulatory scrutiny caused Bitcoin to plunge to $16,000.
Now, institutional money is pouring into the cryptocurrency market, with BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF alone managing $45 billion in assets. This marks a significant shift as major financial institutions increasingly embrace digital assets.
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, encapsulated the prevailing 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.”
Since November, $4.4 billion has flowed into crypto ETFs, and companies like MicroStrategy are planning to raise $42 billion for further Bitcoin investments. Analysts are forecasting a “golden era” for digital assets under the incoming administration.
Earlier in November, Bitcoin surged past the $80,000 mark, hitting an all-time high of $81,858, driven by post-election optimism in the U.S. and the prospect of pro-crypto policies under Trump. Just three days later, the cryptocurrency reached a new record above $90,000.
Notably, Trump’s previous administration was skeptical of digital currencies, but the president-elect has since embraced crypto, pledging to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Trump has promised to retain “100 percent of all the Bitcoin the U.S. 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.
