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President-elect Donald Trump’s team of advisers is holding talks with the digital asset industry about whether to form a new White House position focused on cryptocurrency policy, according to a media report.
The team is vetting candidates for such a
Bitcoin hit $95,000 for the first time ever, following reports of a cryptocurrency-focused role in the incoming Donald Trump administration.
Cryptocurrency
Gains +/-
Price (Recorded at 7:45 p.m. ET)
Bitcoin BTC/USD
+2.73%
$94,794.86
Ethereum ETH/USD
-0.98%
$3,083.96
Dogecoin DOGE/USD
-0.87%
$0.3845
What Happened: The leading cryptocurrency briefly surpassed the never-seen-before level overnight on Wednesday before rebounding.
With the latest uptick, Bitcoin’s weekly gains jumped to nearly 5%, while its market dominance reached 60%. Its returns for November have shot past 33% already, against the historical average of 45%.
On the contrary, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, slid below $3,100. It was down over 3.5% over the week.
Bitcoin’s rally followed reports of a dedicated cryptocurrency role in Trump’s administration that would act as a bridge between the White House, Congress, and regulatory agencies like the SEC and CFTC.
Nearly $350 million in leveraged positions were liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with long liquidations accounting for $241 million.
Bitcoin’s Open Interest (OI) surged 6.52% in the last 24 hours, implying heightened speculative interest among derivatives traders.
Most of the new bets favored Bitcoin’s price increase as the number of long positions increased vis-à-vis shorts, according to the Long/Shorts Ratio.
Market sentiment remained in the “Extreme Greed” zone, as per the Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index.
Top Gainers (24-Hours)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 7:45 p.m. ET) |
| Floki (FLOKI) | +14.94% | $0.0002822 |
| UNUS SED LEO (LEO) | +6.46% | $8.47 |
| Tezos (XTZ) | +5.35% | $1.08 |
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.12 trillion, following an increase of 1.32% in the last 24 hours.
Stocks traded mixed on Wednesday. The S&P 500 ended the session flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.11% to close at 18,966.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Nasdaq Composite lifted 195.66 points, or 1.04%, to end at 18,987.47. The S&P 500 added 0.40% to close at 5,916.98. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the outlier, surging 139.53 points, or 0.32%, to end at 43,408.47.
Nvidia Corp. NVDA shares finished 0.76% lower ahead of third-quarter earnings, which eventually turned out to be better than expected.
.See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners
Analyst Notes: Noted cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez drew a parallel with Bitcoin’s Dec. 2020 trajectory, observing a “nearly identical” Relative Strength Index (RSI).
“If true, BTC will go to $108,000, drop to $99,000, and bounce to $135,000,” Martinez added.
Another widely-followed analyst, Rekt Capital, stated that Bitcoin dips from the previously broken resistance would mean a “post-breakout retest.”
“These retests aren’t always necessary but BTC’s most recent downside wicking demonstrates that there is at least retesting intent in the price action,” the analyst remarked.
Photo by SvetlanaParnikova on Shutterstock
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As money continues to pour into crypto following Donald Trump’s reelection last week, bitcoin has climbed to yet another record high.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency topped $89,000 for the first time, briefly peaking at $89,995 early Tuesday, according to CoinDesk. Bitcoin’s price oscillated throughout the day, but is still up more than 27% over the last week — standing at about $88,288 as of 5 p.m. ET.
That’s part of a rally across cryptocurrencies and crypto-related investments since Trump won the U.S. presidential election. Analysts credit much of the recent gains to an anticipated “crypto-friendly” nature of the incoming administration, which could translate into more regulatory clarity but also leeway.
Still, as with everything in the volatile cryptoverse, the future is hard to predict. And while some are bullish, others continue to warn of investment risks.
Here’s what you need to know.
Cryptocurrency has been around for a while now, but has come under the spotlight in recent years.
In basic terms, cryptocurrency is digital money. This kind of currency is designed to work through an online network without a central authority — meaning it’s typically not backed by any government or banking institution — and transactions get recorded with technology called a blockchain.
Bitcoin is the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, although other assets like Ethereum, Tether and Dogecoin have gained popularity over the years. Some investors see cryptocurrency as a “digital alternative” to traditional money — but it can be very volatile, and reliant on larger market conditions.
A lot of the recent action has to do with the outcome of last week’s election.
Trump was previously a crypto skeptic, but changed his mind and embraced cryptocurrencies during this year’s presidential race. He has pledged to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. His campaign accepted donations in cryptocurrency and he courted fans at a bitcoin conference in July. He also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.
Crypto industry players welcomed Trump’s victory, in hopes that he would be able to push through legislative and regulatory changes that they’ve long lobbied for. And Trump had previously promised that, if elected, he would remove the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry and repeatedly called for more oversight.
“Crypto rallied as Election Day progressed into the night and as it became increasingly clear that Trump would emerge victorious,” Citi analysts David Glass and Alex Saunders wrote in a Friday research note, pointing to larger industry sentiment around Trump being “crypto-friendly” and a potential shift in regulatory backing.
But even before the post-election rally, assets like Bitcoin posted notable gains over the past year or so. Much of the credit goes to early success of a new way to invest in the asset: spot bitcoin ETFs, which were approved by U.S. regulators in January.
Inflows into spot ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, “have been the dominant driver of bitcoin returns from some time, and we expect this relationship to continue in the near-term,” Glass and Saunders noted. They added that spot crypto ETFs saw some of their largest inflows on record in the days following the election.
In April, bitcoin also saw its fourth “halving” — a preprogrammed event that impacts production by cutting the reward for mining, or the creation of new bitcoin, in half. When that reward falls, so does the number of new bitcoins entering the market. And, if demand remains strong, some analysts say this “supply shock” can also help propel the price long term.
Crypto assets like bitcoin have a history of drastic swings in value — which can come suddenly and happen over the weekend or overnight in trading that continues at all hours, every day.
In short, history shows you can lose money as quickly as you’ve made it. Long-term price behavior relies on larger market conditions.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, bitcoin stood at just over $5,000. Its price climbed to nearly $69,000 by November 2021, in a time marked by high demand for technology assets, but later crashed during an aggressive series of Federal Reserve rate hikes aimed at curbing inflation. Then came the 2022 collapse of FTX, which significantly undermined confidence in crypto overall.
At the start of last year, a single bitcoin could be had for less than $17,000. Investors, however, began returning in large numbers as inflation started to cool — and gains skyrocketed on the anticipation and then early success of spot ETFs. While some crypto supporters see the potential for more record-breaking days, experts still stress caution, especially for small-pocketed investors.
“Investors should only dabble in crypto with money that they can be prepared to lose,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said last week. “Because we’ve seen these wild swings in the past.”
Assets like bitcoin are produced through a process called “mining,” which consumes a lot of energy. And operations relying on pollutive sources have drawn particular concern over the years.
Recent research published by the United Nations University and Earth’s Future journal found that the carbon footprint of 2020-2021 bitcoin mining across 76 nations was equivalent to the emissions from burning 84 billion pounds of coal or running 190 natural gas-fired power plants. Coal satisfied the bulk of bitcoin’s electricity demands (45%), followed by natural gas (21%) and hydropower (16%).
In the U.S., the Energy Information Administration notes that crypto mining across the country has “grown very rapidly over the last several years,” adding that grid planners have begun to express concern over increases in related electricity demand. Preliminary estimates released by the EIA in February suggest that annual electricity use from crypto mining probably represents between 0.6% to 2.3% of U.S. electricity consumption.
Environmental impacts of bitcoin mining boil largely down to the energy source used. Industry analysts have maintained that clean energy has increased in use in recent years, coinciding with rising calls for climate protections from regulators around the world.
Bitcoin has hit a record all-time high above $94,000 for the first time amid reports that US President-elect Donald Trump’s social media company was in talks to buy crypto trading firm Bakkt, Reuters reported on November 20.
The reports fuelled hopes that Trump’s second time in the White House will bring a crypto-friendly administration, it added.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has more than doubled through 2024. It hit the record $94,078 milestone just at the end of the previous session, before paring to $92,104 in Asia early on November 20.
Speaking to Livemint, Edul Patel, Co-founder and CEO of Mudrex also credited the debut of the first Bitcoin ETF option for the price hike.
“BlackRock’s Option saw a record $1.9 billion in trading volume on its first day, fueling Bitcoin’s price rally. However, profit-taking following the peak has pulled BTC back to its current level of $92,000. Meanwhile, escalating Ukraine-Russia tensions have put investors in a cautious mode. Bitcoin now faces resistance at $94,600, with support holding steady at $90,400,” he added.
According to a report by The Financial Times, citing two sources, the Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, is in talks for an all-stock acquisition of Bakkt.
Bakkt is backed by NYSE-owner Intercontinental Exchange.
Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, said bitcoin’s rise to a record high was supported by the Trump deal talk report as well as traders taking advantage of the first day of options trading on the Nasdaq over BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF.
Since Trump’s victory in the 2024 US Presidential Elections on November , 2024, cryptocurrencies have soared on the back of his promised support for digital assets.
Traders are watching for less restrictive regulation and and growing excitement has pushed the global crypto market value $3.2 trillion — a record high too, according to data from CoinGecko.
Chris Weston, head of research at Australian online broker Pepperstone, said there is real underlying buying pressure for bitcoin, and “another kick higher should bring in a fresh chase from those who like to buy what’s strong”.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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