Bitcoin hit over $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday, surging to a new record after US President-elect Donald Trump unveiled administration picks believed to usher in crypto-friendly policies when he takes office in January.
Among the picks by Trump is Paul Atkins, whom Trump intends to nominate to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which regulates cryptocurrency.
Atkins, a crypto advocate and former SEC commissioner, is expected to regulate cryptocurrency with a lighter touch than Gary Gensler, who leads the commission under the Biden administration. Gensler, who aggressively fought the industry’s expansion in the US, is set to resign on Inauguration Day.
Bitcoin hit over $100,000 just hours after Atkins was announced as Trump’s choice for SEC chair.
The new milestone builds on the shocking crypto rise since Trump was projected to win the presidency on November 6, which fueled a $6,000 one-day spike in bitcoin that brought it to a new record above $74,000. A week later, it hit $90,000.
Bitcoin is up 130% for the year so far, with the post-election rally accounting for a significant portion of its gains. Its performance far outpaces the S&P 500, which is up 28% over the same period.
Trump, once a crypto skeptic, had called it “not money,” labeling it “highly volatile and based on thin air.”
But he took a rapid switch in the months leading up to his reelection as he sought to attract younger male voters, who tend to own more crypto compared to other demographic groups.
In July, Trump headlined the largest crypto convention in Nashville, where he vowed to create a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” and to hold on to bitcoin the government seizes from criminals rather than auctioning it off, which is the current practice.
“If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the USA,” Trump said.
Then in September, Trump launched his own cryptocurrency business called World Liberty Financial.
That month, he also purchased burgers from a Manhattan bar frequented by crypto enthusiasts using bitcoin. “History in the making,” he declared.
Additionally, Trump’s media company, which owns Truth Social, is reportedly in talks to buy crypto trading forum Bakkt, according to the Financial Times.
“If you like bitcoin at $100,000, you’re going to love it at $1 million,” Anthony Pompliano, a well-known crypto supporter and founder and CEO of Professional Capital Management, an investment firm, said in a post on X Wednesday night.
The cryptocurrency industry threw its weight behind Trump and the Republican Party during this election cycle, with leading super PACs donating around $131 million to elect pro-crypto candidates in congressional races.
The Trump campaign, which began accepting crypto donations in May, raised millions from the move.
In addition to Atkins, Trump nominated Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, a prominent cheerleader for Tether, the company behind one of the world’s biggest crypto assets.
Additionally, Trump is considering creating the first-ever White House role solely dedicated to crypto policy, Bloomberg reported.
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