(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin surpassed $111,000 for the first time, with traders increasingly bullish on the prospects of the original cryptocurrency amid mounting institutional demand and support from Donald Trump’s administration.
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Bitcoin climbed as much as 3.4% on Thursday to hit a record of $111,980, before paring some of the increase. Smaller tokens also rose in a broad rally, with second-ranked Ether at one point up about 7.3%.
The new highs came on the same day that the president was hosting a dinner for top holders of his own $Trump memecoin at his golf club near Washington, an event that has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers and ethics experts who accuse him of selling access.
“The U.S.A. is DOMINATING in Crypto, Bitcoin, etc., and we are going to keep it that way!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday evening in a post saying he was on his way to the dinner.
A wave of optimism is buoying Bitcoin after the advancement of a key stablecoin bill in the US senate fueled hopes of greater regulatory clarity for digital-asset firms under Trump, who is avowedly pro-crypto. Surging demand from Michael Saylor’s Strategy — which has stockpiled over $60 billion worth of Bitcoin — and a growing list of token hoarders is another driving force behind the rally.
“It has been a slow motion grind into new all-time highs,” said Joshua Lim, global co-head of markets at FalconX Ltd. Buying by entities like special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, is helping drive prices higher, Lim said.
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, filed Thursday to sell up to $2.1 billion of 10% perpetual strife preferred stock to fund purchases of even more Bitcoin.
An affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald LP is working with stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings SA and SoftBank Group to launch Twenty One Capital Inc., a company that emulates Strategy’s business model. A subsidiary of Strive Enterprises Inc. co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy is merging with Nasdaq-listed Asset Entities Inc. to form a Bitcoin treasury company.
“Unlike previous cycles, this rally is not momentum-driven alone,” said Julia Zhou, COO of crypto market maker Caladan. “It is quantitatively underpinned by measurable, persistent demand and supply dislocations.”
