Bitcoin rose above $107,000 on Monday, December 16, 2024, after United States President-elect Donald Trump reiterated that he plans to create a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve similar to its strategic oil reserve.
Investor sentiment also got a lift from the inclusion of MicroStrategy into the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index which will likely lead to more inflows for the software firm turned bitcoin buyer.
Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, extended gains to a session high of $107,148 and was most recently at $106,877, up 5.43% from late Friday.
The number two digital currency ether was up 1.85% at $3,975.70.
“We’re in blue sky territory here,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.
“The next figure the market will be looking for is $110,000. The pullback that a lot of people were waiting for just didn’t happen, because now we’ve got this news,” Sycamore added.
Bitcoin and crypto have been catapulted into the spotlight as investors wager the incoming Trump administration will usher in a friendlier regulatory environment, boosting sentiment around the alternative currency. Bitcoin is up about 150% in 2024, Reuters reported.
“We’re gonna do something great with crypto because we don’t want China or anybody else – not just China but others are embracing it – and we want to be the head,” Trump told CNBC last week.
When asked if he plans to build a crypto reserve similar to oil reserves, Trump said: “Yeah, I think so.” He advocated the same thing earlier this year.
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Governments around the world held 2.2% of bitcoin’s total supply as of July, according to data provider CoinGecko with the United States possessing nearly 200,000 bitcoins valued at more than $20 billion at current levels.
China, UK, Bhutan, and El Salvador are the other countries with a significant amount of bitcoins, data site BitcoinTreasuries showed.
Other countries have also been considering cryptocurrency strategic reserves.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month said the current U.S. administration was undermining the role of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency in the global economy by using it for political purposes, forcing many countries to turn to alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies.
“For example, bitcoin, who can prohibit it? No one,” Putin said.
Bitcoin has surged more than 50% since the November 5 election that saw Trump elected along with many other pro-crypto candidates.
The total value of the cryptocurrency market has almost doubled over the year so far to hit a record over $3.8 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
Trump – who once labeled crypto a scam – embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet”.
Trump this month named a White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, former PayPal executive David Sacks, a close friend of Trump adviser and megadonor Elon Musk.
Trump also said he would nominate pro-crypto Washington attorney Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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