Bitcoin is approaching an unprecedented price range, supported by a series of developments that highlight the deep adoption of the digital asset industry in the United States under the leadership of Donald Trump.
Prices were supported by talks by the president-elect's Trump Media and Technology Group to buy digital asset marketplace Bakkt Holdings Inc., which lifted shares of both companies.
Other developments included Nasdaq’s plan to list options on the $43 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust early Tuesday and Goldman Sachs’ push to spin off its digital asset platform, signs of how cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are penetrating deeper into the financial system.
Bitcoin jumped to $92,606 yesterday in the United States, before trading at $90,565 as of 8:06 a.m. Tuesday in Singapore, about $3,000 below the record set last week.
The value of the largest digital asset has risen 35% since Trump won the election on November 5, based on promises that included making the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world.
The scene moves again.
The crypto scene is moving again, Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group, wrote in a note, adding that reports on Trump and Bakkt are another piece of positive news that is boosting sentiment.
Trump has pledged to create a regulatory framework that supports digital assets and a strategic reserve of Bitcoin. The timeline for implementing the first promise is still unclear, while it is unknown whether he will follow through on his pledge to create a Bitcoin reserve.
Such questions fuel discussions about whether cryptocurrency prices in general, and Bitcoin in particular, will continue to rise.
The options market is seeing a high concentration of outstanding contracts betting on the price of the most valuable cryptocurrency rising to $100,000, according to data from the Deribit exchange.
Katie Stockton, a technical analyst at Fairlead Strategies, noted that some signals from chart patterns suggest that Bitcoin could reach around $98,100 in the coming weeks. IG Australia Pty market analyst Tony Sycamore expressed his preference for buying Bitcoin corrections again, at around $80,000.
BlackRock Fund
BlackRock’s iShare Fund is the world’s largest cryptocurrency investment portfolio. Options on the fund could attract new investment into cryptocurrencies, expanding trading capabilities.
The fund is one of 12 cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds in the United States, a group that as a whole attracted net inflows of about $4 billion in the period following Election Day.
The current bout of crypto optimism has dulled memories of the 2022 market crash, which exposed fraud and other risky practices and led to the collapse of platforms including Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange.
The sector’s chequered history was also on display Monday, when the woman who dubbed herself the Wall Street Crocodile and Razlihan in videos was sentenced to 18 months behind bars for helping her husband launder what is now billions of dollars in cryptocurrency he had stolen from the Bitfinex exchange.
Trump used to be skeptical of cryptocurrencies, but he changed course after crypto companies spent heavily during the election campaign to promote their interests. The president-elect now has his own crypto-related projects.
The probability of a comprehensive encryption bill passing in the United States in 2025 has risen to about 70%, Nathan Dean, senior government analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in a note.
