Bitcoin hits record $97,000 as cryptocurrency seeks direct line to Trump

By Sunil Jagtiani  Bitcoin topped $97,000 for the first time as the digital-asset sector moves to cement its influence with Donald Trump by pushing for a new White House post dedicated to cryptocurrency policy. 

Trump’s team is holding discussions over whether to create such a role and the industry is pitching for the position to have direct access to the president-elect, who is now one of crypto’s biggest cheerleaders.

 

The talks are the latest US boost for digital-asset market sentiment, alongside Bitcoin accumulator MicroStrategy Inc.’s plans to accelerate purchases of the token and the debut of options on the nation’s Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

 

 

The largest digital asset rose more than 2 per cent to a record high of $97,002 as of 12:15 p.m. Thursday in Singapore. The crypto market as a whole consolidated gains of approximately $900 billion since Trump’s election victory on Nov. 5, based on data from CoinGecko.

 

Speculators are increasingly focused on whether Bitcoin will make a further leap to $100,000. Advocates of its claimed role as a modern-day store of value cherish the six-figure level as a symbolic rebuttal of skeptics who see little utility in crypto and decry its links to money laundering and criminal activity. 

“Buyers are strangling the sellers,” said IG Australia Pty Market Analyst Tony Sycamore. “While I’m not sure it’s all going to be smooth sailing as it edges closer to the $100,000 mark, the demand appears to be insatiable.”

 

Sycamore also flagged speculation that “a big seller” has been disposing of tokens in the low $90,000s, taking advantage of the strong market.

 

In a recent post on X, billionaire Michael Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital LP, highlighted a Bitcoin “sell wall” of more than $10 billion, while adding that a large amount of the token was also bought in the past six days.

 

MicroStrategy, the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin, on Wednesday announced an almost 50 per cent increase in planned sales of convertible senior notes, to $2.6 billion, to fund purchases of the token. 

 

The once obscure software maker now bills itself as a Bitcoin treasury company and has a roughly $31 billion stockpile of the digital asset.

 

Trump has vowed to create a supportive US crypto regulatory framework and set up a strategic Bitcoin stockpile. The timeline for implementation of his promises and the feasibility of the Bitcoin reserve remain uncertain. The president-elect used to be a crypto skeptic but changed tack after digital-asset firms spent heavily during election campaigning to promote their interests.