By Sunil Jagtiani
Bitcoin has spent the weekend so far trading well shy of the landmark $US100,000 ($154,000) level, once again dashing enthusiasts’ hopes that the oldest of digital assets would breach that significant financial — and psychological — threshold.
Cryptocurrencies ranging from Bitcoin to memecoins have been on a tear since the election of Donald Trump to a second term in the White House. Investors are betting on friendlier regulations in the US and an expansion of mainstream interest and awareness driven by the president-elect’s own avowed support for crypto. The crypto market as a whole has gained about $US1 trillion since Trump’s election win.
Bitcoin has been turbocharged since Donald Trump’s re-election.Credit: Bloomberg
But the momentum hasn’t quite been enough for the largest crypto token to set a major new milestone. While Bitcoin came within $US300 of the $US100,000 mark on Friday afternoon, it seemed unable to push past $US99,000 on Saturday.
Trump’s transition team has begun to hold discussions over whether to create a new White House post dedicated to digital-asset policy. Crypto is seeking a direct line to the president-elect, who has shaken off his earlier scepticism of digital assets and is now seen as an industry cheerleader.
This perceived inflection point in the official US attitude to crypto is filtering across Wall Street. Charles Schwab Corp’s incoming chief executive Rick Wurster said on Thursday the firm will get into offering spot crypto trading once regulatory changes materialise.
Bitcoin accumulator MicroStrategy Inc’s plans to accelerate purchases of the token, and the debut of options on US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, also lifted sentiment this week.
“We can focus on news that SEC Chair Gary Gensler will step down on Jan. 20, sizable inflows into the ETFs, and the role that options play in driving prices higher, but this is an out-and-out momentum rally, and $US100,000 is acting as a magnet,” Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group, wrote in a note.
Advocates of bitcoin’s claimed role as a modern-day store of value cherish the $US100,000 level as a symbolic rebuttal of sceptics who see little utility in crypto and decry its links to crime. While the token has more than doubled in price this year, many experts still question its fitness for investment portfolios.
“Bitcoin is not something you can value,” Themis Themistocleous, EMEA chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, said on Bloomberg Television. “It’s very volatile, and we think you can have in your portfolio other hedges like gold, that all the time prove to be a much more effective hedge.”
On Friday, a report from the US Federal Reserve sounded a note of caution about another popular type of digital token: stablecoins.
Stablecoins are typically designed to avoid the volatility for which other types of cryptocurrencies are known. “These digital assets are structurally vulnerable to runs and lack a comprehensive federal prudential regulatory framework,” the Fed said in its semi-annual financial stability report.
Bloomberg