Bitcoin hits $80,000. Why Trump is boosting crypto

Bitcoin on Sunday hit a new record above $80,000. The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged in the run-up to Tuesday’s US presidential election, rose sharply immediately on election night after it became clear Donald Trump would win and has continued rising in the days since his victory.

Bitcoin on Sunday hit a new record above $80,000. The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged in the run-up to Tuesday’s US presidential election, rose sharply immediately on election night after it became clear Donald Trump would win and has continued rising in the days since his victory. Bitcoin is up 80% this year, dwarfing the S&P 500’s still-electric 25.7% gain this year. After briefly touching the $80,000 milestone, bitcoin was trading just below it Sunday mid-morning. The crypto industry believes Trump’s victory is a bullish sign for bitcoin and other digital currencies. Although Trump was once a bitcoin skeptic, once saying it “was based on thin air,” he has fully embraced crypto in recent months — unlike the Biden administration, which has sought to rein in crypto. A big reason Trump has changed his tune on crypto: He now has a financial stake in it. In September, Trump and his children started a new crypto business called World Liberty Financial. “It’s very young and very growing,” Trump said of the cryptocurrency industry on September 16 while unveiling World Liberty Financial. “I do believe in it.” The Biden administration, by contrast, has been far more skeptical of crypto. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said in June 2021, in one of his first speeches in his then-new job, that crypto was “ripe with fraud, scams and abuses.”