Bitcoin is closing in on the $100,000 mark, driven by widespread optimism about US President-elect Donald Trump’s support for cryptocurrencies , which is believed to lead to a market boom as the US shifts towards friendly regulation rather than tightening.
The American Bloomberg Agency reported today, Thursday, that the largest digital asset rose by 3.6% to record a new record of $97,892.
Trump’s election victory on November 5 is believed to have boosted the cryptocurrency market by around $900 billion, with discussions beginning about the possibility of creating a White House position dedicated to digital asset policy, a position the industry is promoting as having direct access to the president-elect.
"President-elect Donald Trump's team is in discussions with the digital asset industry about the possibility of creating a position in the White House dedicated entirely to cryptocurrency policy," said anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The Trump team is currently vetting candidates for the role, the sources added, and if created, it would be the first White House job dedicated to cryptocurrencies, highlighting the influence the emerging industry could have on the next administration.
It is unclear whether there will be a senior White House position or a “digital czar,” a term used in Washington to refer to the person responsible for overseeing policy and regulation across the federal government, according to the sources.
Cryptocurrency industry advocates are pushing for the job to be directly linked to Trump, and the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment on the remarks.
All eyes are now on when Bitcoin will hit $100,000 rather than if it will, with proponents of the cryptocurrency seeing it as a modern store of value, and the six-figure figure as a symbolic response to skeptics.
In a supportive move for the market, MicroStrategy, the largest public company holder of Bitcoin, announced a 50% increase in convertible bond sales to raise $2.6 billion to fund the purchase of more of the digital currency.
For their part, a group of 12 US-based Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have attracted net inflows of $5.8 billion since Election Day, bringing their total assets to $100 billion.
The current market optimism is fueling expectations that Bitcoin could make a rapid jump towards $100,000, a psychologically important level in the market; and with Trump promising a supportive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and a reserve storage for Bitcoin, the timing of these promises remains uncertain.