Bitcoin races history $100,000, fueled by post-election rally

The worth of bitcoin surpassed $100,000 for the first period on Wednesday, soaring to a fresh high as the globe’s largest cryptocurrency extended a rally set off by the election of former President Donald Trump.

Bitcoin has climbed more than 40% since Election Day, when voters opted for a candidate viewed as amiable toward digital funds.

Those gains have far outpaced the stake economy. The S&P 500 has increased about 2.4% over that period, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has jumped 2.6%.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to bolster the cryptocurrency sector and ease regulations enforced by the Biden administration. Trump also promised to establish the federal government’s first National Strategic Bitcoin savings.

Trump said he would replace financial instruments and swap percentage Chair Gary Gensler, whom many crypto proponents dislike for what they perceive as a robust way to crypto regulation.

Gensler announced that he plans to resign on Jan. 20, 2025, the date of Trump’s inauguration.

The post-election euphoria has lifted other parts of the crypto sector. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has climbed 27%. Lesser-known dogecoin has skyrocketed about 140%, while litecoin has surged 35%.

Shares of Coinbase, a top crypto market activity platform, have increased more than 70% since Trump’s reelection.

The growth in recent weeks extends a remarkable turnabout for the once-beleaguered crypto industry. The sector entered this year bruised after a series of high-profile collapses and business scandals.

FTX, a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency swap co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, collapsed in November 2022. The implosion set off a 17-month legal saga that resulted in the conviction of Bankman-Fried for fraud. In April, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of major cryptocurrency swap Binance, was sentenced to four months in prison in April after pleading guilty to charges that his platform had enabled illicit financial activity.

The reelection of Trump marks the latest in a series of positive developments that have buoyed cryptocurrency this year.

Those gains have been propelled, in part, by U.S. approval in January of bitcoin ETFs, or swap-traded funds. Bitcoin ETFs allow investors to buy into an property that tracks the worth movement of bitcoin, while avoiding the inconvenience and hazard of purchasing the crypto coin itself.

Last month, options on BlackRock’s popular iShares Bitcoin depend ETF (IBIT) were made available for market activity on the Nasdaq. The options, which provide a recent avenue for bitcoin investors, allow individuals to commit to buy or sell the ETF at a given worth by a specific date. While such investments typically arrive with additional hazard, they can also make large payouts.

IBIT inched upward 1% on Friday, reaching a record high of about $56.

Bryan Armour, the director of inactive strategies research at financial firm Morningstar, attributed the recent crypto surge to investors’ expectation of amiable policy under Trump, as well as the newly available options market activity for bitcoin ETFs.

Still, the act of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, has proven volatile, Armour added. The worth of bitcoin could fall, especially if Trump encounters hardship following through on his campaign commitments, he said.

“As long as the narrative stays positive, there’s always room to develop,” Armour told ABC information before bitcoin reached $100,000. “I also ponder campaign promises don’t always arrive to fruition.”

“It’s still a highly volatile property,” Armour added.