(Reuters) – Bitcoin rose above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Republican Donald Trump as president of the United States fueled expectations that his administration would create a friendlier regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
it has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 45% in the four weeks since Trump’s landslide election victory, which also saw the election of pro-crypto lawmakers to Congress.
It last traded at $100,027 at 0240 GMT, up 2.2% on the previous session, after rising as high as $100,277 earlier.
“We are witnessing a paradigm shift. After four years of political purgatory, bitcoin and the entire ecosystem of digital assets are on the verge of entering the financial mainstream,” said Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of the American crypto company Galaxy Digital (TSX:).
“This momentum is driving institutional adoption, advances in tokenization and payments, and a clearer regulatory path.”
More than 16 years after its creation, bitcoin appears to be on the cusp of mainstream acceptance, despite naysayers and a history of controversy.
“Bitcoin passing $100,000 is more than just a milestone; it’s evidence of a shifting tide in finance, technology and geopolitics,” said Justin D’Anethan, an independent crypto analyst in Hong Kong.
“A number not so long ago dismissed as fantasy stands as reality.”
Trump embraced the digital asset during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and accumulate a national supply of bitcoins.
Crypto investors are seeing an end to heightened oversight under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who said last week he would step down in January when Trump takes office.
On Wednesday, Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, has been involved in crypto policy as co-chair of the Token Alliance, which works to “develop best practices for digital asset issuance and trading platforms,” and the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
A host of crypto companies, including , Kraken and Circle, are vying for a spot on Trump’s promised crypto advisory council, seeking input into his planned overhaul of US policy, according to several digital asset industry executives.
Trump’s companies may also have stakes in the sector. In September, he introduced a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial. Although details about the business are scarce, investors have taken his personal interest in the sector as an incentive.
Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to buy crypto trading firm Bakkt, the Financial Times reported last week, citing two people familiar with the talks.
Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, is close to acquiring all shares of Bakkt, according to a report in the FT.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a major Trump ally, is also a proponent of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin’s recovery from falling below $16,000 at the end of 2022 has been swift, fueled by the approval of bitcoin exchange-traded funds to list on the US stock exchange in January this year.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has long sought to block ETFs from investing in bitcoin, citing investor protection concerns, but the products have allowed more investors, including institutional investors, to gain exposure to bitcoin.
More than $4 billion has flowed into US-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds since the election.
“We traded mostly sideways for about seven months, and then immediately after November 5, US investors continued to buy non-stop,” said Joe McCann, CEO and founder of Asymmetric, a digital asset hedge fund in Miami.
There was a strong debut for options on the BlackRock (NYSE: ) ETF in November with call options — bets on the price going up — significantly more popular than puts. McCann calculated the put to call ratio at about 22 to one.
Crypto-related stocks have soared along with the price of bitcoin, with shares in bitcoin miner MARA Holdings rising around 65% in November.
However, the rise is not without its critics.
Two years ago, the industry was rocked by a scandal with the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange and the imprisonment of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
The cryptocurrency industry has also been criticized for its huge energy consumption, while crypto-crime is also a problem.
Market participants are watching closely to see what happens now that bitcoin has crossed $100,000, and investors and speculators may be looking to pocket some of their recent gains.
“But once we remove those sell orders, this could go even higher, and very quickly,” said Steven McClurg, founder of Canary Capital, a digital asset investment firm. He said he expects the price of bitcoin to reach $120,000 by Christmas.
