The original currency hit a historic high on Wednesday, breaking the psychological barrier. 100,000 dollars and then rising even higher. The growth comes amid a heightened climate in the crypto industry, with the election of Donald Trump expected to bring looser regulation and more blockchain innovation in the US.
Bitcoin broke through the $100,000 mark around 9:30 PM Eastern Time and continued to climb Wednesday afternoon, trading at $103,600, before paring some of those gains. Bitcoin was trading around $103,000 at midnight EST.
Crypto markets are very volatile and, unlike the stock market, it is difficult to identify an exact price as there is little discrepancy between different exchanges. On Wednesday night, Bitcoin was trading above $100,000 on all exchanges, while other cryptocurrencies also rose.
The price of alt-coins also rose with blockchain tokens like Ethereum and Dogecoin up around 7%. Unlike previous phases of crypto, however, the Bitcoin rally did not lift all coins.
Solana, Ethereum’s main competitor, was mostly flat. Meanwhile, XRP tokens associated with blockchain company Ripple fell by around 10%; drop, although it came after XRP. went up A remarkable 65% or so in the last week.
Bitcoin’s new record high came on the same day President-elect Donald Trump announced he had it He selected Paul Atkinslibertarian and former regulator to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The crypto market responded with joy to Atkins’ proposed appointment. Atkins will succeed SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, an acolyte of progressive senator Elizabeth Warren, who is anti-crypto and widely despised by blockchain executives and many in the broader financial community for his aggressive regulatory strategy.
In general, the crypto market has been on the rise, thanks in part to the high popularity of newly launched ETFs. BlackRock and Fidelity, which offered conservative investors a way to buy Bitcoin as a stock.
Bitcoin’s recent all-time high comes amid a new crypto bull market that gained steam earlier this year, when Bitcoin was trading at around $42,000.
The current price mania comes as crypto is in the middle of its fourth major bull cycle. Launched in 2009, Bitcoin—the original cryptocurrency—traded for pennies in its early years before its first major breakout in 2013, which crossed $1000. In subsequent boom periods, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of under $20,000 in 2017, and a new high of around $65,000 in 2021.
