Bitcoin Rises Above $96,000 Amid Trump Optimism

The price of Bitcoin continues to rise since the election victory of Donald Trump, and has reached another record high.

The price of Bitcoin climbed above $96,000 (£75,995), as of Thursday afternoon, trading at $96,681 (£76,469). At one stage Bitcoin prices had topped $98,000 for the first time during early trading.

Last week the price of Bitcoin climbed above $93,000 (£73,144), after surging from $84,000 (£65,263) as cryptocurrency investors bet that Donald Trump would institute crypto-friendly policies after taking office in January 2025.

Trump optimism

Since Trump’s election victory, the value of Bitcoin has risen approximately 40 percent.

It should be remembered that Bitcoin was only trading at $37,000 a year ago, after it had reached a record high of $63,000 back in April 2021.

This latest surge comes after Trump changed his mind of cryptocurrencies, after he previously criticised them.

During his election campaign, Trump surprised many when he spoke more positively about cryptocurrencies, including a speech in July in which he suggested creating a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile”.

He promised to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet”, without specifying any policies.

Regulatory changes

President-elect Trump also promised to fire Gary Gensler, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who has previously been criticised by the head of Coinbase as well as Binance.

This was because since his appointment by Joe Biden in 2021, Gensler has led a drive to more closely regulate crypto firms under existing securities regulations.

The SEC’s drive has seen a crackdown on companies such as Coinbase and Binance, whose chief executive served four months in prison this summer for the company’s failure to enforce money-laundering regulations.