For the first time, Bitcoin has soared past US$81,000.
Before Donald Trump sealed his return to the presidency last week, he pledged to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin.
Trump’s election campaign accepted donations in cryptocurrency. He also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture to trade cryptocurrencies, and made it clear earlier this year that he wanted all bitcoin to be made in the US.
Bitcoin stocks reached an all-time high on the morning of 6 November 2024 when Trump’s victory became obvious. Bitcoin climbed as much as 9% at one point to reach a record $75,389, before falling back to below $74,000.
Less than a week following the election results and Bitcoin is still riding high. The world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency climbed as much as 6.1% on Sunday (10 November), before extending the gain to an unprecedented $81,497 early in the Asian day on Monday (11 November). That is more than double the year’s low of $38,505.
Smaller coins have also experienced a surge including Dogecoin, an open-source cryptocurrency promoted by Elon Musk that launched in 2013 as a satirical critique of the crypto frenzy.
Earlier today, finance news site Benzinga reported that Dogecoin was up 19% on the day, 86% over the past week and an impressive 162% over the past 30 days, with 94% of holders in profit.
It’s clear that Trump’s success has caused cryptocurrencies to jump in value, with many betting that his presidency will bring with it deregulation of digital currencies.
Le Shi, Hong Kong managing director at market-making firm Auros, told the South China Morning Post: “With the dust from Trump’s victory still settling down, it was only a matter of time before a run-up of some sort occurred given the perception of Trump being pro-crypto, and that’s what we’re seeing now.”
Flows into cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have also picked up since Trump’s election win.
On Thursday (7 November), bitcoin ETFs experienced their largest inflows on record, drawing a net $1.38bn, according to US financial services company Citigroup. Analysts at Citigroup told Reuters: “ETF inflows have been the dominant driver of Bitcoin returns, and we expect this to continue in the near-term.”
