{"id":78525,"date":"2024-12-05T10:35:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T07:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kfm.co.ug\/?p=78525"},"modified":"2024-12-05T16:41:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T13:41:28","slug":"bitcoin-storms-above-100000-as-trump-2-0-fuels-crypto-euphoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/bitcoin-storms-above-100000-as-trump-2-0-fuels-crypto-euphoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin storms above $100,000 as Trump 2.0 fuels crypto euphoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY REUTERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bitcoin catapulted above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday, a milestone hailed even by sceptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly U.S. administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets.<\/p>\n

Once it broke $100,000 in Thursday’s Asian morning, boosted by U.S. President-elect Trump’s nomination of pro-crypto Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was soon at an all-time high of $103,619. It was last fetching $102,675, up about 5% on the day BTC=.<\/p>\n

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 data provider CoinGecko. By comparison, Apple AAPL.O alone is worth about $3.7 trillion.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin’s march from the libertarian fringe to Wall Street has minted millionaires, a new asset class and popularised the concept of “decentralised finance” in a volatile and often controversial period since its creation 16 years ago.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin has more than doubled in value this year and is up more than 50% in the four weeks since Donald Trump’s sweeping election victory, which also saw a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers being elected to Congress.<\/p>\n

“CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU\u2019RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!” Trump said on Truth Social, his social media network, on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“We’re witnessing a paradigm shift,” said Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of U.S. crypto firm Galaxy Digital.<\/p>\n

“Bitcoin and the entire digital asset ecosystem are on the brink of entering the financial mainstream – this momentum is fuelled by institutional adoption, advancements in tokenisation and payments, and a clearer regulatory path.”<\/p>\n

Trump – who once labelled crypto a scam – embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.<\/p>\n

“We were trading basically sideways for about seven months, then immediately after Nov. 5, U.S. investors resumed buying hand-over-fist,” said Joe McCann, CEO and founder of Asymmetric, a Miami digital assets hedge fund.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin’s proponents cheered Trump’s nomination of Atkins to the SEC.<\/p>\n

A former SEC commissioner, Atkins has been involved in crypto policy as co-chair of the Token Alliance, which works to “develop best practices for digital asset issuances and trading platforms,” and the Chamber of Digital Commerce.<\/p>\n

“Atkins will offer a new perspective, anchored by a deep understanding of the digital asset ecosystem,” said Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith.<\/p>\n

“We look forward to working with him … and ushering in \u2013 together \u2013 a new wave of American crypto innovation.”<\/p>\n

A slew of crypto companies including Ripple, Kraken and Circle are also jostling for a seat on Trump’s promised crypto advisory council.<\/p>\n

PART OF THE LANDSCAPE<\/p>\n

Bitcoin has proven a survivor through precipitous downturns.<\/p>\n

Its move into six-figure territory is a remarkable comeback from a dip below $16,000 in 2022 when the industry was reeling from the collapse of the FTX exchange. Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was subsequently jailed.<\/p>\n

Analysts say the growing embrace of bitcoin by big investors this year has been a driving force behind the record-breaking rally.<\/p>\n

U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds were approved in January and have been a conduit for large-scale buying, with more than $4 billion streaming into these funds since the election.<\/p>\n

“Roughly 3% of the total supply of bitcoins that will ever exist have been purchased in 2024 by institutional money,” said Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.<\/p>\n

“Digital assets, as an asset class, is becoming normalised,” he said.<\/p>\n

It is already becoming increasingly financialised, with the launch of bitcoin futures BTCc1 in 2017 and a strong debut for options on BlackRock’s ETF IBIT.O in November.<\/p>\n

Crypto-related stocks have soared along with the bitcoin price, with shares in bitcoin miner MARA Holdings MARA.O and exchange operator Coinbase COIN.O each up around 65% in November.<\/p>\n

Software firm Microstrategy MSTO.O, which has repeatedly raised funds to buy bitcoin and held an aggregate of about 402,100 bitcoins as of Dec. 1, has gained around 540% this year.<\/p>\n

Trump himself unveiled a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September, although details have been scarce and billionaire Elon Musk, a major Trump ally, is also a proponent of cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

‘WHO CAN PROHIBIT IT’<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrencies have been criticised for their massive energy consumption and use in crime around the world, and the underlying technology is far from delivering a revolution in the way money moves around the globe.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Britain announced on Wednesday they had disrupted what they described as a global money laundering ring which used cryptocurrency to help rich Russians to evade sanction and launder cash for drug traffickers.<\/p>\n

Although calculations vary, the Cambridge University Centre for Alternative Finance estimates bitcoin uses around the same amount of electricity each year as Poland or South Africa.<\/p>\n

Still, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out at an investment conference on Wednesday: “Who can prohibit it? No one.” And its longevity is perhaps testament to a degree of resilience.<\/p>\n

“As time goes by it’s proving itself as part of the financial landscape,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist and head of investment strategy at AMP in Sydney.<\/p>\n

“I find it very hard to value it … it’s anyone’s guess. But it does have a momentum aspect to it and at the moment the momentum is up.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY REUTERS Bitcoin catapulted above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday, a milestone hailed even by sceptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly U.S. administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets. Once it broke $100,000 in Thursday’s Asian morning, boosted by U.S. President-elect Trump’s nomination of pro-crypto Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was soon at an all-time high of $103,619. It was last fetching $102,675, up about 5% on the day BTC=. 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 data provider CoinGecko. By comparison, Apple AAPL.O alone is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":78526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2889,557],"class_list":["post-78525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bitcoin","tag-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}