Bitcoin's march to $100,000 brings crypto nearer to mainstream

By Tom Westbrook and Samuel Indyk

SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) -Bitcoin’s march towards $100,000 gathered tempo on Thursday, as expectations mounted for a friendlier U.S. regulatory method beneath President-elect Donald Trump, marking a surprising rebound for an asset many traders nonetheless regard with scepticism.

The bitcoin worth topped $98,000 for the primary time throughout European buying and selling and was final up round 2.4% at $96,779.

has greater than doubled in worth this yr and is up about 40% within the two weeks since Trump was voted in as the subsequent U.S. president and a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers have been elected to Congress.

Over 16 years after its creation, bitcoin seems on the cusp of mainstream acceptance.

“Everybody who’s purchased bitcoin at any level in historical past is at the moment in revenue,” Alicia Kao, managing director of crypto alternate KuCoin, mentioned.

“However those that purchased it early, when there have been important obstacles to doing so and there was the would possibly of the world’s monetary and governmental forces intent on crushing it, are the true winners. Not as a result of they’re wealthy, however as a result of they’re proper.”

Trump embraced digital property throughout his marketing campaign, promising to make the USA the “crypto capital of the planet” and to build up a nationwide stockpile of bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s rebound from a slide under $16,000 in late 2022 has been fast, boosted by the approval of U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January this yr.

The Securities and Alternate Fee had lengthy tried to dam ETFs from investing in bitcoin, citing investor safety considerations, however the merchandise have allowed extra traders, together with institutional traders, to achieve publicity to bitcoin.

CRYPTO RUSH

Greater than $4 billion has streamed into U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds for the reason that election. This week, there was a robust debut for choices on BlackRock (NYSE:)’s ETF, with name choices – bets on the value going up – extra well-liked than places.

Crypto-related shares have soared together with the bitcoin worth and shares in bitcoin miner MARA Holdings have been up almost 2.3% on Thursday.

“When you get away to new highs, you entice a variety of new capital,” John LaForge, head of actual asset technique at Wells Fargo (NYSE:) Funding Institute, mentioned.

“It is like gold within the Nineteen Seventies, the place this new excessive is in a worth discovery mode. You do not know how excessive it is going to go,” he mentioned.

MicroStrategy, a loss-making software program firm that has been shopping for bitcoin, was down 2.5% after its market cap had earlier surpassed $100 billion. Its share worth has greater than doubled for the reason that day of the election.

The corporate’s CEO Michael Saylor has positioned himself as one of many largest proponents of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, alongside Trump-ally Elon Musk.

“Many are questioning if this administration will carry the regulatory readability the crypto neighborhood has been ready for. It is possible too quickly to say,” mentioned Will Peck, head of digital property at WisdomTree, a worldwide exchange-traded fund issuer.

“We see all of this pleasure as bullish not just for bitcoin or crypto broadly, however your complete blockchain-enabled ecosystem that’s rising as we speak.”

But the rise shouldn’t be with out critics.

Two years in the past, the trade was wracked by scandal with the collapse of the FTX crypto alternate and the jailing of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

The cryptocurrency trade additionally has been criticized for its vitality utilization, with miners beneath scrutiny over their potential influence on energy grids and greenhouse gasoline emissions as a result of their energy-intensive operations.

Crypto crime additionally stays a priority, with an evaluation by crypto researchers Chainalysis discovering that at the least $24.2 billion price of crypto was despatched to illicit pockets addresses final yr, together with addresses recognized as sanctioned or linked to terrorist financing and scams.

(Further reporting Medha Singh, Dhara Ranasinghe and Amanda Cooper; Enhancing by Jamie Freed and Lisa Shumaker)