Asus
Bitcoin reached a new record high of $82,000 on Monday following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election on November 6.
The former and future president has been a big proponent of cryptocurrency and now that he will enter the White House in January, the Bitcoin market, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is soaring.
The price of Bitcoin has risen by nearly $15,000 since November 4, and over the last 24 hours, it went up more than three percent. This marks an increase of more than double what the market was in January this year, when it hit a low of $38,505, according to Reuters.
During his campaign, Trump pledged to make America “the crypto capital of the planet” and proposed integrating Bitcoin into the nation’s economy in order to hedge against rising inflation.
Trump also announced he would create “a bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council,” offering a more collaborative approach to crypto regulation by giving industry insiders a seat at the table.
Experts had previously predicted that Trump’s victory in the election would result in cryptocurrency markets skyrocketing, in part because of his promise to remove Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler from his role and by supporting Bitcoin mining in the country, according to Coin Telegraph.
Explaining why the Bitcoin markets had shot up, Nottingham Trent University Professor Alexander Brauneis told Newsweek that, assuming Trump will keep his promise to make the U.S. a cryptocurrency hub, “it will be grist to the crypto mills.”
He also said that Trump’s connection to Elon Musk is “most likely another catalyst for the recent price pump.”
Brauneis added that “the cryptocurrency space has attracted major companies like BlackRock, hinting retail investors’ demand.”
BlackRock, a major global investment company, now owns the fund iShares Bitcoin Trust, which has become the world’s largest fund for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.
“Overall, Trump’s election might be seen as the spark igniting the favorable environment we are currently looking at,” Brauneis said.
Alex Brandon/AP
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who joined Trump at a number of his rallies and has been a vocal support of the president-elect, has also tied himself closely to the cryptocurrency markets.
He bought about $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in 2021, causing the market to hit record highs.
Trump’s win also saw Tesla shares rise nearly 30 percent in the past week, increasing the company’s market value to more than $1 trillion, and boosting Musk’s personal net worth to more than $300 billion.
Another cryptocurrency market, Ethereum, also rose above $3,200 for the first time in three months after Election Day.
Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency originally made as a joke which later turned into a digital currency movement, is also increasing since the election and reached a record high for the past year.
The U.S. dollar was also up more than one percent against several currencies following Trump’s election, including the euro and the Japanese yen, marking a four-month high for the U.S. exchange rate, according to Forbes.
When asked what the forecast could look like for the Bitcoin market in the coming months, Brauneis said, “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are amongst the most volatile assets altogether, it would be surprising if we didn’t see substantial price swings in the months to come.”
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.