SINGAPORE- Bitcoin’s march toward $100,000 made further ground on Thursday as investors bet a friendlier US regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies under President-elect Donald Trump will unleash a boom era for the asset class.
Bitcoin prices topped $96,000 for the first time in Asia trade, touching a high just above $96,898.
The cryptocurrency’s price has more than doubled this year and is up about 40 percent in the two weeks since Trump was voted in as the next US president and a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers were elected to Congress.
“While it’s now firmly into overbought territory, it is being drawn toward the $100k level,” said IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore.
Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin. More than $4 billion has streamed into US listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds since the election. This week, there was a strong debut for options on BlackRock’s ETF with call options – bets on the price going up – more popular than puts.
