The leading digital currency by capitalization, bitcoin gained nearly 9% around 6:20 GMT to reach a new absolute record at $75,371.67, sweeping away its March peak ($73,797.98). Around 1:50 p.m. GMT, it stood at $73,932.50.
The price soared in unison with the dollar just as the Republican’s victory in the American presidential election was taking shape, before Donald Trump won the keys to the White House for a second time on Wednesday morning.
“The crypto community is celebrating its victory as a positive signal for digital assets,” noted Naeem Aslam, analyst at Zaye Capital.
Donald Trump in fact pledged during his electoral campaign to make the United States “the world capital of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies”.
Ether, another major digital currency, traded at 1:50 p.m. GMT on Wednesday at $2,621.54, up 8.53%.
Memecoins, highly volatile parodic digital currencies, are also experiencing a boost, like dogecoin promoted by billionaire Elon Musk, a fervent supporter of Donald Trump.
“National strategic reserves”
By posing as the champion of cryptocurrencies, Donald Trump took the opposite view of the Biden government, considered to be in favor of strict regulation of a controversial sector, which largely escapes the control of institutions, even if Democratic candidate Kamala Harris had attempted to give pledges to reassure cryptocurrency holders.
“Returning to power”, the Republican businessman should place “the emphasis on deregulation, tax incentives and economic policies favorable to alternative investments”, estimates Nigel Green, analyst at deVere.
This expert also notes that the Republican’s previous term “was marked by significant corporate tax cuts, which injected additional liquidity into the markets, thus promoting investment in high-growth assets.”
“His administration could reverse certain regulatory tightening measures from the Biden era and create initiatives such as a + strategic national stock of bitcoins +”, a promise from Donald Trump, underlined John Plassard, analyst at Mirabaud, as many measures which promote investment in the sector.
Donald Trump has thus sworn to fire Gary Gensler, boss of one of the financial market policemen, the SEC, and supporter of firm regulation of cryptocurrencies.
In September it also launched its own platform dedicated to digital currencies, called World Liberty Financial, which offers services based on so-called decentralized finance, a mechanism which no longer uses an intermediary such as a bank for its transactions.
His electoral victory means for investors “an increase in demand for digital currency”, noted before the election Russ Mould, analyst at AJ Bell.
Hedge against inflation
Since the start of the year, the price of bitcoin has exploded by around 75%, notably driven by the anticipation of the “halving”, a technical event which reduces the supply of new bitcoins approximately every four years, by dividing half the bitcoin reward given to users (or “miners”) for operating this digital currency.
The digital asset also owes its rise to the debut of a new investment product on the American market, an index fund (ETF) indexed to bitcoin, which allows investors to benefit from fluctuations in the price of this cryptocurrency without owning it. directly.
Since their launch on January 11 in the United States, the twelve bitcoin-backed ETFs have accumulated the equivalent of approximately $69.28 billion, or approximately 5% of bitcoins in circulation, according to the SoSoValue site.
Bitcoin is also positioned as a “hedge against inflation” asset, notes Naeem Aslam, while Donald Trump’s program includes inflationary policies of tax cuts, increase in customs tariffs, or even strengthening of immigration control.
