Trump is taking the credit for Bitcoin’s $100,000 milestone
The price of Bitcoin surged above the $100,000 mark on Wednesday for the first time, and one man thinks he’s the reason for it.
“CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!” President-elect Donald Trump wrote in an early morning post on his Truth Social platform Thursday.
The milestone came hours after Trump made his latest appeal to the crypto lobby. Trump has tapped Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission as its next chairman, delivering a pro-crypto face to the head of the regulator and replacing Gary Gensler, who has been maligned by the crypto lobby.
Atkins, who now leads the consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, has chaired The Digital Chamber’s Token Alliance since 2017, which was charged with advocating best practices and recommending legal frameworks that promote the crypto industry. Atkins, a former SEC commissioner under Former President George W. Bush, “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump said.
It’s one of the first signs that Trump may make good on his many promises to the crypto industry.
Trump — who once looked down on crypto and called Bitcoin a “scam” — has called for a strategic national Bitcoin reserve, declared all Bitcoin should be mined in the U.S., and attached his name to multiple crypto projects this year. He also promised to make the U.S. a “world capital” for crypto and establish a crypto advisory council. Earlier this year, he pitched himself as the “crypto candidate” and “crypto president” while courting tech leaders.
As of 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, Bitcoin is priced at $103,025. It reached a high point of $103,679 overnight, a major leap compared to its $1 price in 2011.
Had someone invested $1,000 as recently as January 2024, they would have witnessed a 120% growth in their investment this year alone. If they had gotten into the market with a $1,000 investment just four years ago at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, they would have seen a 1,220% growth over that time.
—Vinamrata Chaturvedi contributed to this story.
