Bitcoin rallied past US$80,000 for the first time, boosted by US president-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of digital assets and the prospect of a Congress featuring pro-crypto lawmakers.
The cryptocurrency climbed as much as 4.7 percent to an unprecedented US$80,092 on yesterday.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail to put the US at the center of the digital asset industry, including creating a strategic bitcoin stockpile and appointing regulators enamored with digital assets. He emerged from Tuesday’s election in a stronger position than expected — his Republican Party has control of the US Senate and is on the verge of holding a narrow majority in the US House of Representatives.
Photo: Kevin Wurm, Reuters
“With the dust from Trump’s victory still settling down, it was only a matter of time before a run-up of some sort occurred, given the perception of Trump being pro-crypto, and that’s what we’re seeing now,” Auros Hong Kong managing director Le Shi said.
Bitcoin has added about 90 percent so far this year, helped by robust demand for dedicated US exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. The rise in the largest digital token, which scaled fresh records after the US vote, exceeds the returns from investments such as stocks and gold.
The ETFs, powered by BlackRock Inc’s US$35 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust, posted a record daily net inflow of almost US$1.4 billion on Thursday, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. A day earlier, the iShares ETF’s trading volume jumped to an all-time peak — all signs of how Trump’s victory is reshaping crypto.
Trump’s stance contrasts with a crackdown on digital assets under US President Joe Biden. US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler repeatedly labeled the sector as rife with fraud and misconduct.
The agency turned the screws on crypto following a 2022 market rout and a litany of collapses, notably the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraudulent FTX exchange.
Digital asset companies and executives spent heavily during the US election campaign to promote candidates viewed as favorable toward their interests.
“Trump has promised supportive regulation, and the sweep of the House and the Senate makes the passage of crypto bills much more likely,” wrote Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter.
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