The native currency hit a new all-time high on Wednesday, breaking a psychological barrier of 100,000 dollars and then climbs even higher. The rise comes amid a broader climate of bullishness in the crypto industry, which predicts that the election of Donald Trump will lead to looser regulation and more blockchain innovation in the US
Bitcoin breached the $100,000 mark around 9:30 PM ET and continued to rally on Wednesday night, trading around $103,600 before giving up some of those gains. Bitcoin was trading around $103,000 at midnight EST.
Crypto markets are notoriously volatile and, unlike the stock market, it is difficult to identify an exact price as there is little variation between different exchanges. On Wednesday night, Bitcoin was trading above $100,000 on every exchange, while other cryptocurrencies also jumped.
The price of so-called altcoins also jumped with blockchain tokens like Ethereum and Dogecoin rising around 7%. Unlike earlier phases of cryptocurrency, the rise of Bitcoin did not lift all coins.
Solana, Ethereum’s main competitor, remained largely unchanged. Meanwhile, XRP tokens linked to blockchain company Ripple fell about 10% — a drop, though it came after XRP he climbed up a whopping 65% in the past week.
The new record for Bitcoin came on the same day that President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had selected by Paul Atkinslibertarian and former regulator, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. The crypto market reacted with glee to Atkins’ proposed appointment. Atkins is slated to succeed current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, an aide to progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren who is fiercely anti-cryptocurrency and widely despised by blockchain executives and many in the broader financial community for his aggressive regulatory strategy.
Broadly speaking, the crypto market has risen thanks to the huge popularity of new ETFs launched by the likes BlackRock and Fidelity, which allowed conservative investors to buy Bitcoin in the form of stocks.
Bitcoin’s latest all-time high comes amid a new crypto market that gained traction earlier this year, when Bitcoin was trading at around $42,000.
The current price mania comes as crypto is in the midst of its fourth major bull run. Launched in 2009, Bitcoin — the original cryptocurrency — traded for pittance in its early years before its first major breakout in 2013, when it crossed $1,000. In the later periods of the boom, Bitcoin hit an all-time high of just under $20,000 in 2017 and then hit a new high of around $65,000 in 2021.
