Following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of administration candidates who are thought to hold the keys to enacting crypto-friendly policies when he takes office in January, Bitcoin reached $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday, setting a new record.
Paul Atkins is the most prominent choice; Trump plans to choose him to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees bitcoin regulation.
Former SEC commissioner and bitcoin advocate Atkins is anticipated to regulate cryptocurrencies more loosely than Gary Gensler, who heads the commission under the Biden administration. On Inauguration Day, Gensler, who vehemently opposed the industry’s growth in the US, is scheduled to step down.
Just hours after Atkins was named Trump’s nominee for SEC chair, the price of bitcoin hit $100,000.
The extraordinary rise that began when Trump was predicted to win the president on November 6 sparked a $6,000 one-day spike in bitcoin that sent it to a new high above $74,000, and the current milestone builds on that. After a week, it reached $90,000.
Bitcoin has risen 130% so far this year, with a large amount of its profits coming from the post-election boom. Its performance is much superior than that of the S&P 500, which has increased by 28% during the same time frame.
Trump, who was earlier sceptical about cryptocurrencies, had referred to them as “not money,” saying they were “highly volatile and based on thin air.” In the months preceding his reelection, however, he made a complete 180-degree reversal in an attempt to win over younger male voters, who are more likely than other demographic groups to hold cryptocurrency.
Trump promised to establish a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” and to retain bitcoin that the government confiscates from criminals instead of auctioning it off, as is now the case, when he spoke at the biggest cryptocurrency convention in Nashville in July.
Trump stated, “I want cryptocurrency to be mined, minted, and made in the USA if it is going to define the future.”
Then, in September, Trump established World Liberty Financial, his own cryptocurrency company.
He also used bitcoin that month to buy hamburgers from a bar in Manhattan that is popular with cryptocurrency fans. He said, “History in the making.”
The Financial Times also claims that negotiations are underway for Trump’s media firm, which owns Truth Social, to acquire the cryptocurrency trading forum Bakkt.
In a post on X Wednesday night, prominent cryptocurrency proponent Anthony Pompliano, who is the founder and CEO of the financial firm Professional Capital Management, stated, “If you like bitcoin at $100,000, you’re going to love it at $1 million.”