Bitcoin , the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has more than doubled this year. It was last at $93,709, up 1.6%, after hitting an all-time peak of $94,982.37.
Bitcoin has soared more than 40% since the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, as traders bet that Trump’s stated commitment to support cryptocurrencies would lead to a less restrictive regulatory environment, lifting the sector overall.
“The rise of bitcoin over the past 15 years is due to an innovation that cannot be recreated: decentralized electronic cash,” wrote Nikhil Bhatia, founder of The Bitcoin layer, a research provider analyzing bitcoin through a global macroeconomic lens, in emailed comments.
“The term ‘digital gold’ best describes this digital asset that has an algorithmically limited supply function. If bitcoin were to reach the market size of gold ($17 trillion), it would imply a price of around $800,000 for 1 BTC,” said Bhatia, who is also an adjunct professor of finance at USC Marshall School of Business.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported Trump was meeting privately with the crypto exchange Coinbase chief executive officer Brian Armstrong, further aiding sentiment.
OPTIONS TRADING
“We expect these options to be popular and, in turn, may positively influence trading volumes of these ETPs (exchange traded products) as the underlying,” said Kenneth Worthington, analyst at J.P. Morgan.
U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded products have attracted about $4.2 billion in inflows since Trump’s election victory, about 15% of the total inflows since the products were launched on U.S. stock exchanges in January.
Chris Weston, head of research at Australian online broker Pepperstone, said there is real underlying buying pressure for bitcoin, and “another kick higher should bring in a fresh chase from those who like to buy what’s strong”.
Sign up here.
Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore, Medha Singh in London, and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York; Editing by Christina Fincher and Ros Russell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
