Bitcoin breaks $100,000 mark

On December 5, the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed and surpassed the $100,000 mark for the first time in history. The cryptocurrency market as a whole has increased by more than $1,000 billion since Donald Trump won the US presidential election on November 5.

Just hours ago, President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to appoint Paul Atkins as Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The move was seen by the crypto community as Trump maintaining his commitment to not only replace SEC Chairman Gary Gensler but also establish a more friendly regulatory environment.

On the same day, US Treasury Secretary Jerome Powell called Bitcoin "digital gold" at the DealBook conference. He said it does not compete with the US dollar but competes with gold.

Gensler previously announced that he would step down on January 20, 2025, the day President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Gensler’s tenure has been filled with legal actions aimed at curbing the cryptocurrency community, in contrast to Trump’s stance.

According to media reports, Trump's transition team has begun discussing whether to open a new position in the White House dedicated to digital asset policy.

The industry is lobbying for a seat in the US government and direct access to the president, a position that would give the industry unprecedented influence over the regulations that govern it.

Such discussions are the latest fuel for the cryptocurrency craze. Demand for Bitcoin appears to be “insatiable” and is outstripping supply, according to analyst Tony Sycamore.

Trump has vowed to create a regulatory framework that supports cryptocurrencies and establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. However, the timing of his promises remains uncertain.

The president-elect was skeptical of cryptocurrencies but changed his tune after digital asset companies spent heavily on his campaign to promote their own interests. He also has his own digital asset projects.

The current optimism has people obscuring memories of the market meltdown of 2022, when scams and other risky behavior were exposed, leading to the collapse of the biggest names like Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX exchange.