Bitcoin surges to record highs

The price of Bitcoin has continued to rally, rising above the $80,000 threshold for the first time in history on Monday amid trader hopes that US President-elect Donald Trump will support the digital asset industry.

The flagship cryptocurrency jumped nearly 7% over the past 24 hours, reaching nearly $85,000 per coin, as of 16:25 GMT. Bitcoin thus registered its second-best week of the year, according to Glassnode data. The price has more than doubled from about $37,000 a year ago. Aside from Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies have also seen a surge in price.

At $1.66 trillion, Bitcoin is now the ninth-largest financial asset by market capitalization. Overall, the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies eclipsed $2.83 trillion on Monday.

“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,” Le Shi, Hong Kong managing director at the market-making firm Auros, told Bloomberg.

During the campaign, Trump made a range of promises to the crypto industry, including that he would make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and insisting that all Bitcoin should be mined in the country. He even used Bitcoin to buy cheeseburgers and beer for his supporters at a New York City bar.

Trump also pledged to unseat US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who has taken an aggressive approach to the crypto industry.

Some analysts say the crypto will continue to skyrocket and could even hit the $100,000 milestone by the end of the year.

“Through the year-end, I think it will really depend on Trump’s public commentary and whether he continues to spotlight digital assets as a priority,” Brian Rudick, managing director of research at crypto market maker GSR, earlier told The Market Watch.

“If he continues to reiterate his promises, Bitcoin is likely to continue to act well. If he’s completely silent through the time when he takes the presidency in January, that would not be a good sign, and Bitcoin could give back some of these gains,” Rudick concluded.