Bitcoin Breaks $100,000 After Trump’s SEC Selection, Fed’s Comments

A mock-up of a physical Bitcoin, on Jan. 12, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The road to $100,000 was finally achieved for Bitcoin as the flagship cryptocurrency’s total market capitalization firmed above $2 trillion.

After breaking through the six-figure threshold on Dec. 5, Bitcoin (BTC) prices climbed to as high as $105,325 before paring some of the gains.

Bitcoin has surged by 140 percent this year and about 45 percent since the election.

Other virtual tokens have been swept up in Bitcoin’s bull run. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has surged by 71 percent in 2024. Dogecoin has soared by 400 percent, Ripple has spiked by 290 percent, and Solana is up 135 percent.

By comparison, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by 19 percent year to date, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has climbed by about 32 percent.

The highly anticipated push toward $100,000 occurred after President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Bitcoin gained further momentum on comments made by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

While speaking at The New York Times DealBook Summit, Powell likened Bitcoin to gold, “only it’s virtual, it’s digital.”

According to the U.S. central bank chief, Bitcoin is a speculative asset not being used as a store of value or a form of payment.

“It’s not a competitor for the dollar. It’s really a competitor for gold,” Powell told CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Trump congratulated the Bitcoin community after achieving this long-awaited mark.

“You’re welcome,” Trump said in a Dec. 5 Truth Social post. “Together, we will make America great again.”

Investors are optimistic that the incoming administration will maintain a friendlier relationship with the crypto industry and deliver on Trump’s campaign pledges.

Throughout the campaign, Trump promised to establish a national Bitcoin reserve, create a presidential crypto advisory council, and eliminate taxes on crypto transactions. The president-elect also vowed to terminate the term of SEC chair Gary Gensler, who has opposed the crypto industry but who recently announced plans to step down on Jan. 20, 2025.

Trump has filled his incoming administration with several other crypto supporters, including billionaire financier Scott Bessent as his pick for secretary of the Treasury and seasoned Wall Street investor Howard Lutnick for Commerce secretary.

The president-elect had been a crypto skeptic, writing in a series of social media posts in July 2019 that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were “not money.”

“Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity,” Trump said. “We have only one real currency in the USA, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States dollar!”

Since then, Trump has engaged in a sharp reversal leading up to his 2024 election campaign, from starting a crypto business to headlining the largest crypto convention in July.

Bitcoin’s $100,000 Is Significant

It has been seven years since Bitcoin registered its first $1,000.

Noelle Acheson, a crypto analyst and author of the daily newsletter “Crypto Is Macro,” described Bitcoin’s breach of $100,000 as a “big deal.”

“For those of us who have been here a long time, it’s emotional,” Acheson said. “It feels like a graduation, a step into the adult world, with head held high.”

It was a crucial milestone for the Bitcoin community following years of booms and busts, regulatory pressures, and a perfunctory attitude from the finance sector.

Since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, after the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, critics have been largely opposed to its decentralized aspect, which allows transactions without a financial institution. As it became popular, regulators worldwide warned that Bitcoin and its sister tokens were used for illicit activities and tax evasion.

The tone has shifted as demand from Wall Street institutions has grown in recent years. At the beginning of 2024, BlackRock and Fidelity launched the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

A chorus of market watchers has delivered rosy projections for the years ahead.

Tom Lee, the co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat, said in a podcast interview with former Trump administration official Anthony Scaramucci that Bitcoin could hit $250,000 in 2025.

Ark Invest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood, speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” predicted in January that the base price of Bitcoin could be $650,000 by 2030.

Anthony Pompliano, the founder and CEO of Professional Capital Management, suggested it could reach $1 million.

“$100,000 is a psychological milestone,” he wrote on social media platform X.

One crypto expert offered a more conservative forecast for Bitcoin.

According to market analyst Willy Woo, prices for Bitcoin could consolidate to the $88,00–91,000 range before returning above $100,000.

“When BTC breaks into all-time-highs, there’s no prior history of resistances for the market to trade around. This means price goes into unfettered price discovery, expect wild swings,” he wrote on X last month.

Another four years of Trump could present both opportunities and risks for crypto investors, according to Joe Tigay, a portfolio manager at Rational Equity Armor Fund.

“Cryptocurrencies could face significant hurdles, from regulatory uncertainty to geopolitical tensions,” Tigay said in a note emailed to The Epoch Times.

“Investors must stay vigilant. Success will depend on adapting to new policies, embracing innovation, and navigating government shifts.”

Experts, including SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, have said it could take years before Washington approves changes and implements reforms to the crypto regulatory infrastructure.

Now that the milestone has been reached, Acheson prepared Bitcoiners for the future.

“Going forward, BTC will rise, and it will fall, and it will continue to do so as long as ‘forever’ has meaning. Because no one entity can decide otherwise,” Acheson wrote.

“But today is a landmark we will never forget. Today feels like the beginning of something new.”