The price of Bitcoin, th
Bitcoin hit a record high above $109,000 on Monday as Donald Trump, who has signalled plans to deregulate the cryptocurrency sector, prepares to be sworn in as US president.
Bitcoin reached an all-time peak of $109,241 ahead of Trump’s inauguration ceremony, before falling back to $107,765 at around 0740 GMT.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has soared since Trump won the presidential election in November, with Bitcoin surpassing $100,000 for the first time in early December.
It came after he nominated cryptocurrency backer Paul Atkins to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism the new president will deregulate the sector.
Trump will be sworn in later in the day and speculations have been raised that the president-elect will address Bitcoin’s strategic reserve during his inauguration speech.
Bicoin gained 3.3 percent and $111 billion volume of trade over the past 24 hours.
The cryptocurrency market capitalisation also increased to $3.95 trillion – gaining $484 billion within the same period.
A breakdown of the market cap showed that Bitcoin has 55 percent, while Ethereum, trading at $3,396 (the second largest cryptocurrency), has 10.6 percent — leaving other coins with the remaining 33 percent.
The rise in Bitcoin’s price started on November 5 when Donald Trump, a Republican Party candidate, won the US presidential election. The digital asset reached $75,000 on that day.
One month later, the digital currency reached a $100,000 – the first time in its 15 years history.
Bitcoin had experienced fluctuations after crossing the threshold.
Meanwhile, Trump had launched his own cryptocurrency or memecoin, called $TRUMP.
The move had sparked a rally that sent its market capitalisation soaring to $14 billion.
