Bitcoin reached a new record high on Sunday, as the cryptocurrency continues to grow in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. The digital currency surpassed $80,000 for the first time just after 12:00 p.m. (1200 GMT). It hit $75,000 on Wednesday, surpassing its previous all-time high of $73,797.98 set in March.
It has been growing since Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won last Tuesday’s election on the promise to loosen regulations on digital currencies.
“The odds that Bitcoin and crypto will become a significantly larger asset class have risen markedly,” Charles Morris, an analyst at investing firm ByteTree, told AFP. Bitcoin topped $75,000 on Wednesday, exceeding its previous all-time high of $73,797.98 set in March.
“We shouldn’t expect this bullish trend to stop for a long time – perhaps a year. Stephane Ifrah of Coinhouse, a French crypto asset management company, says the next stage for him is $100,000. Trump was viewed as the pro-crypto candidate in his race against Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris.
During his first presidency, Trump called cryptocurrencies a hoax, but he has since altered his mind, even building his own cryptocurrency platform. He has promised to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world,” and has appointed tech billionaire and right-wing conspiracy theorist Elon Musk to lead a comprehensive audit of government waste.
During Trump’s previous tenure, corporate tax cuts increased market liquidity, promoting investment in high-growth assets like Bitcoin. In September, Trump announced the establishment of World Liberty Financial, a digital currency platform founded by his sons and entrepreneurs. However, it had a shaky sales launch earlier this month, with only a quarter of the tokens that went on sale finding buyers.
Cryptocurrencies have made news since their inception, from their extraordinary volatility to the failure of several industry titans, most notably the FTX exchange platform. In the run-up to the election, Trump appears to have become the first past president to use bitcoin in a purchase, purchasing burgers at a New York City restaurant, which welcomed it as a “historic transaction”.
