Riding on Donald Trump's euphoria, Bitcoin breaks through $90,000 mark

Bitcoin broke through the $90,000 level on Wednesday, as its rally showed no signs of easing on expectations that Donald Trump as US president will be a boon for cryptocurrencies. 

The world's biggest cryptocurrency has become one of the most eye-catching movers in the week since the election and on Wednesday touched record highs. It was last up 5.49 per cent at $93,158, marking a 32 per cent rise since the Nov. 5 election. 

Smaller peer ether has also risen 37 per cent since election day, while dogecoin, an alternative, volatile token promoted by billionaire Trump-ally Elon Musk was up more than 150 per cent. 

 

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. 

It is unclear how or when that could happen but the possibility drove a speculative surge in crypto mining and trading stocks. 

"Key areas to monitor include potential regulatory changes, increased institutional participation, and a rise in M&A activity," said Carl Szantyr, managing partner of digital asset hedge fund Blockstone Capital. 

"The new political landscape may bring clearer regulations for crypto assets and could prompt strategic developments, such as a national bitcoin reserve and growth in the mining sector." Software company and bitcoin investor MicroStrategy announced it had spent about $2 billion buying bitcoin between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10. Shares scaled a record high on Tuesday. 

Crypto investors see an end to increased scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission under Trump. Trump, along with his sons, also announced a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September. 

"President Trump's re-election would allow him to appoint a new chair of the SEC, an agency that has arguably been stifling the crypto industry via ongoing legal action and monetary penalties over the past ~3 years," JPMorgan researchers said in a note Tuesday. 

Funds tracking the spot price of bitcoin, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, were up nearly 4 per cent on Wednesday. 

Shares in Coinbase, the largest publicly traded crypto exchange, were down 1.3 per cent, while shares in bitcoin miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings were down 4.08 per cent and 4.68 per cent, respectively.   

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