Bitcoin rises to fresh record, over $109K ahead of Trump inauguration in US

By Ryan Weeks

 

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $109,241 as the US prepares to inaugurate pro-crypto President-elect Donald Trump.  

The original cryptocurrency rose as much 5.5 per cent on Monday to set a fresh record. The token’s rise came after Trump and his wife Melania unveiled memecoins over the weekend, with Trump’s rapidly reaching a market capitalization of more than $15 billion before declining sharply.  

 

Those memecoins briefly rattled the digital-asset market, sapping flows from Bitcoin and smaller tokens while drawing criticism from industry executives. 

 

Bitcoin, second-ranked token Ether and XRP all rose rapidly on Monday morning in London, with traders counting down the hours until Trump once again assumes control of the White House. Bloomberg News previously reported that he’s considering an executive order designating the asset class a “national priority.”

 

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The memecoins launched by Trump and his team have further accelerated Bitcoin’s momentum as retail traders look for the Republican to “prioritize and reaffirm his commitment to the crypto industry,” said Ben El-Baz, managing director of HashKey Global.