A neon sign indicates that Bitcoin is accepted inside the venue of the Paralerni Polis Project, an organization that combines art, social sciences and modern technology, in Prague, Czech Republic, on Friday, January 5, 2024.
Milan Haros | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The price of Bitcoin has soared past the long-awaited $100,000 threshold for the first time in history.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last up more than 5% to $101,072.00, according to Coin Metrics. It had previously risen to $101,555.40.
The move came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The crypto community sees this move as more in line with Trump’s campaign promises than to replace the late Gary Gensler. Under his leadership, the agency’s regulatory approach to the crypto industry was chosen as the crypto industry’s villain, in part to create a regulatory environment that supports the industry more broadly.
The same day, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking at the Deal Book conference, said that Bitcoin is “just like gold, just virtual, just digital.” He added that “people are not using gold as a means of payment or as a store of value” and clarified that “gold is not a competitor to the dollar, it is actually a competitor to gold.”
This day marks the end of several crypto boom and bust cycles where governments and financial institutions remained negative or even hostile towards Bitcoin assets, clinging on for life or “holding” them. It is a day to celebrate long-time Bitcoin investors. class.
That’s largely due to cryptocurrencies’ anti-establishment roots. The initial idea of Bitcoin was proposed in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis. “Peer-to-peer versions of e-money allow online payments to be transferred directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution,” the founders said. , Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in the Bitcoin White Paper:
However, in recent years, the industry has demonstrated the value of Bitcoin to many institutional investors. black rockfidelity, invesco launched the first Spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this year, at the moment of Bitcoin’s “IPO,” and growing demand for them by institutional investors helped push prices higher. In November, incoming CEO Rick Wurster said: charles schwabsaid that the company is preparing to enter spot trading of cryptocurrencies, pending regulatory changes expected under the incoming Trump administration.
“We are witnessing a paradigm shift. After four years of political purgatory, Bitcoin and the entire digital asset ecosystem are entering the financial mainstream,” said CEO of Galaxy Digital. Mike Novogratz told CNBC.
Since the US presidential election, Bitcoin has been widely expected to reach the landmark $100,000 level. However, excited investors pushed Bitcoin closer to this level much faster than originally expected. It rose to $99,849.99 on November 22nd. There are high hopes that President-elect Donald Trump will implement several pro-cryptocurrency initiatives over the next year, including the creation of a national strategic Bitcoin reserve or stockpile and a tax exemption for cryptocurrencies. There is. Enhance trading and open up the virtual currency public stock market with more IPOs.
“Long-term, I’m bullish,” Novogratz added. “It won’t be a straight line, and investors should always consider taking profits off the table. But with a pro-crypto administration about to take office in the US, it won’t be that way for the rest of the world. It will be difficult.” Be careful. ”
