Bitcoin rises above $100,000 for the first time

New York (CNN) — Bitcoin hit $100,000 for the first time late Wednesday, setting a new record, after President-elect Donald Trump announced government decisions upon taking office in January that were key to adopting a crypto-friendly system policies apply.

First up is Paul Atkins, whom Trump wants to appoint to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which regulates cryptocurrency.

Atkins, a crypto advocate and former SEC commissioner, is expected to regulate cryptocurrencies less stringently than Gary Gensler, who leads the commission under the Biden administration. Gensler, who aggressively fought the industry’s expansion in the U.S., is expected to resign on Inauguration Day.

Just hours after Atkins was announced as Trump’s nominee for SEC chairman, Bitcoin hit $100,000. It rose to over $103,000 on Thursday morning.

The new milestone builds on the stunning rally set in motion since Trump was expected to win the presidency on November 6, which led to a one-day rise in Bitcoin’s price of $6,000, taking it to a new record of over $74,000. A week later, it reached $90,000.

“CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! You’re welcome!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday morning.

Bitcoin is up more than 130% year to date, with the post-election recovery accounting for a significant portion of its gains. Its performance far outperforms the S&P 500, which is up 28% over the same period.

Trump, once a crypto skeptic, had called it “no money” and described it as “very volatile and based on thin air.” But in the months leading up to his re-election, he made a 180-degree turn as he sought to attract younger male voters, who tend to own more cryptocurrencies compared to other demographic groups.

In July, Trump led the largest crypto conference in Nashville, where he promised to create a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile” and keep the bitcoins seized by the government from criminals instead of auctioning them off, which is the current practice.

“If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the United States,” Trump said.

Then in September, Trump launched his own cryptocurrency company called World Liberty Financial.

This month he also bought burgers with Bitcoin at a Manhattan bar frequented by crypto enthusiasts. “History is made,” he explained.

Additionally, Trump’s media company, which owns Truth Social, is said to be in talks to buy crypto trading forum Bakkt, according to the Financial Times.

“If you like Bitcoin at $100,000, you’ll love it at $1 million,” Anthony Pompliano, a well-known crypto supporter and founder and CEO of Professional Capital Management, an investment firm, said in a post on Wednesday evening X.

For Trump, promoting cryptocurrencies has paid off

The cryptocurrency industry has thrown its weight behind Trump and the Republican Party this election cycle, with leading super PACs donating around $131 million to elect pro-crypto candidates in congressional races.

The Trump campaign, which began accepting crypto donations in May, raised millions through the move.

Now the community that cemented his victory is betting on a wave of pro-crypto politics, a turnaround from the last four years under the Biden administration.

Trump seems ready to oblige. In addition to Atkins, he has nominated Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, a prominent cheerleader for Tether, the company behind one of the world’s largest crypto assets.

Additionally, he is considering creating the first White House role dedicated solely to crypto policy, Bloomberg reported.

But crypto has not found supporters among many current financial regulators. For example, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called Bitcoin “a speculative asset.”

In his view, Bitcoin has many of the same characteristics as gold, which U.S. consumers largely do not use as a primary means of payment. “It is not a competitor to the dollar. It really is a competitor for gold,” he said at a conference on Wednesday.

Powell himself is “not allowed” to own cryptocurrencies, he said.