Bitcoin hits $80,000 for first time amid optimism over Trump
$BTC soared to a new record high on Sunday, as the cryptocurrency continues to rise following Donald Trump’s presidential election win.The digital currency passed $80,000 for the first time shortly after 12:00 pm (1200 GMT). It reached $75,000 on Wednesday, topping its previous all-time peak of $73,797.98 achieved in March.
It has been rising since Republican candidate Trump won last Tuesday’s US presidential election over sentiment that he will ease regulations on digital currencies.
The odds that Bitcoin and crypto will become a significantly larger asset class have risen markedly,” Charles Morris, an analyst at investment company ByteTree told AFP.
Bitcoin reached $75,000 on Wednesday, topping its previous all-time peak of $73,797.98 achieved in March.
“We shouldn’t expect this bullish trend to be interrupted for a long time — about a year. The next level for me is $100,000,” Stephane Ifrah, of French crypto asset management company Coinhouse, told AFP.
Trump was seen as the pro-crypto candidate in his battle with the Democratic Party’s candidate Kamala Harris.
During his first presidency Trump referred to cryptocurrencies as a scam, but has since radically changed his position, even launching his own platform for the unit.
He has pledged to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world,” and to put tech billionaire and right-wing conspiracy theorist Elon Musk in charge of a wide-ranging audit of governmental waste.
The previous Trump term saw corporate tax cuts that brought more liquidity to markets, encouraging investment into high-growth assets such as cryptocurrency.
Trump announced in September that he, along with his sons and entrepreneurs, would launch a digital currency platform named World Liberty Financial.