Bitcoin Hits Record $106,000 on Hopes for U.S. Crypto Reserve
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Bitcoin hit a new record above $106,000 in early Asian trading on Monday, driven by comments from President-elect Donald Trump, who hinted at plans to establish a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve, similar to the country's strategic oil reserve.
The world's leading cryptocurrency peaked at $106,533 and was last seen at $105,688. Smaller rival ether rose nearly 3% to $4,014. "We're in blue sky territory," said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, adding that the market's next target is $110,000. "The pullback that many expected just didn’t materialize, thanks to this news."
Trump recently stated in an interview with CNBC that the U.S. intends to lead in crypto to avoid being outpaced by China and other nations. He confirmed the possibility of establishing a cryptocurrency reserve like the nation's oil reserves, saying, "Yeah, I think so."
Other countries have also been exploring the idea of cryptocurrency reserves. Russian President Vladimir Putin, earlier this month, questioned the necessity of holding foreign currency reserves and suggested that domestic investment is more attractive. He also criticized the U.S. for undermining the dollar's role in the global economy, which has led many countries to consider alternative assets, including bitcoin. "For example, bitcoin, who can prohibit it? No one," Putin said.
However, some remain skeptical. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently compared bitcoin to gold, arguing that it isn’t widely used as a payment method or store of value, and is too volatile to be a serious competitor to the dollar.
Bitcoin has surged over 50% since the November 5 election, in which Trump and other pro-crypto candidates were elected. The total cryptocurrency market value has nearly doubled this year, reaching a record high of over $3.8 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
This month, Trump appointed former PayPal executive David Sacks, a close associate of Elon Musk, as a White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies. He also announced plans to nominate pro-crypto attorney Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Friday, Nasdaq revealed that MicroStrategy, a major bitcoin investor, would be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index. MicroStrategy's shares have soared more than six-fold this year, pushing its market value to nearly $94 billion, making it the largest corporate holder of bitcoin.
Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.
