Neon lights inside the premises of the Paralelni Polis project, an organization that combines art, social sciences and modern technology, show that Bitcoin is accepted on Friday, January 5, 2024, in Prague, Czech Republic.
Milan Jarosz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
On Wednesday night, Bitcoin prices broke through the long-awaited $100,000 benchmark for the first time.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last up more than 5% at $101,072.00, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it traded as high as $101,555.40.
The move comes just hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a move seen by the crypto community as consistent with his promise to go beyond replacing Gary ·Gary Gensler – The latter has become an important figure. Establish a more supportive regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry.
On the same day, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said in a speech at the DealBook conference that Bitcoin is “just like gold, except that it is virtual and digital.” He further clarified that “people are not using it as a payment method or a store of value” and that “it’s not a competitor to the U.S. dollar, it’s actually a competitor to gold.”
It’s a day of celebration for long-term Bitcoin investors who have stuck with, or “held”, Bitcoin through the cryptocurrency’s several boom and bust cycles, during which governments and financial institutions remained dismissive of the asset. At first glance, the class was even hostile.
This is largely due to cryptocurrency’s anti-establishment roots. The original idea for Bitcoin was proposed at the height of the financial crisis in 2008: “A peer-to-peer version of electronic cash that would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution,” said its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto) is at Bitcoin White Paper.
However, in recent years, the industry has demonstrated the value of Bitcoin to many in the institutional investment community. BlackRockFidelity, I invest and other companies launched the first spot Bitcoin ETFs at the beginning of the year, Bitcoin’s “IPO” moment, and growing institutional demand for them drove prices higher. In November, Rick Wurster took over as CEO Charles Schwabindicating that the company is Get Ready to Enter Spot Cryptocurrency Tradingawaiting expected regulatory changes under the next Trump administration.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz told CNBC: “We are witnessing a paradigm shift. After four years of political purgatory, Bitcoin and the entire digital asset ecosystem are on the verge of entering the financial mainstream.”
Since the US presidential election, Bitcoin has been widely expected to reach the landmark $100,000 level. However, excited investors brought Bitcoin closer to this level much earlier than initially expected; on November 22, Bitcoin price rose to $99,849.99. Not taxing cryptocurrency transactions and opening up the cryptocurrency public equity market through more IPOs.
“In the long term, I’m bullish,” Novogratz added. “It won’t be a straight line, and investors should always consider taking gains off the table. However, with a pro-crypto government coming to power in the United States, it will be difficult for the rest of the world not to take action. Take note.”
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