Bitcoin struck a record high above $93,000 Wednesday as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency benefits from president-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to ease regulation around digital tokens.
The volatile asset has rocketed more than 30 percent in value since Trump won last week’s US presidential election, smashing its record-high on several occasions and breaching $90,000 for the first time Wednesday.
The Republican said during campaigning that he planned to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world”.
“The main catalyst for the recent surge on the price of bitcoin is the victory of Donald Trump,” Alexander Londono, market analyst at ActivTrades, noted Wednesday.
“This is due to the fact that Trump has been an outspoken supporter of cryptocurrencies and is willing to deregulate the sector to make it more investor friendly.”
Londono added that the rally “is based on emotions and future expectations, which may or may not become real”.
‘Broader surge’
Other cryptocurrencies are also benefiting, including Dogecoin, supported by Elon Musk, boss of Tesla.
Bitcoin’s “rally and the broader surge across cryptocurrencies have set global markets ablaze, stirring up waves of excitement and speculation”, said independent markets analyst Stephen Innes.
Trump on Tuesday announced that Musk, the world’s richest man, will lead a new US government-efficiency group tasked with cutting federal waste.
Musk became a key ally to Trump during his campaign, reportedly spending over $100 million to help him win and repeatedly boosting his candidacy on X, the social platform he owns.
Cryptocurrencies have made headlines since their creation, from their extreme volatility to the collapse of several industry giants, foremost among them the FTX exchange platform.
Bitcoin was conceived in 2008 by a person or group writing under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
The digital currency is created — or “mined” — as a reward when powerful computers solve complex problems to validate transactions made on the blockchain.
The previous Trump term as president saw corporate tax cuts that brought more liquidity to markets, encouraging investment into cryptocurrency.
Trump announced in September that he, along with his sons and entrepreneurs, would launch a digital currency platform named World Liberty Financial.
But it had a faltering sales launch earlier this month, with only a fraction of its tokens that went on the market finding a buyer.
In the run-up to the election, Trump apparently became the first former president to use bitcoin in a purchase, as he bought burgers at a New York City restaurant, which hailed it as a “historic transaction”.
AFP
