Bitcoin rallied past $84,000 for the first time, boosted by US President-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of digital assets and the prospect of a Congress featuring pro-crypto lawmakers.
Trump was declared the winner in Arizona, marking a clean sweep of the seven US battleground states. His decisive victory in the presidential election has prompted celebratory chest-thumping from the digital-asset industry, which spent over $100 million backing a range of crypto-friendly candidates.
The largest token climbed nearly 5% on Monday after rising 6% on Sunday and extended gains to hit an unprecedented $84,050 as of 11:00am in New York.
His broader agenda of stoking domestic economic growth, tax cuts and reducing red tape has fuelled a buying spree across stocks, credit and crypto. Bitcoin has added about 95% so far in 2024, helped by robust demand for dedicated US ETFs and interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Since election day (Nov 5), Bitcoin has risen about 24% or $16,000.
Dogecoin tops Bitcoin’s gains
A bevy of smaller cryptocurrencies outperformed market-leader Bitcoin in recent days as enthusiasm about the sector’s prospects under President-elect Donald Trump encouraged a wave of speculative bets. Among the leaders are Dogecoin, which is up about 50% in the past five days.
Crypto co FTX sues Binance, ex-CEO
FTX filed a lawsuit against Binance Holdings and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, seeking almost $1.8 billion it alleges was fraudulently transferred by Sam Bankman-Fried. Binance, Zhao and other Binance executives received the funds as part of a July 2021 share repurchase deal with Bankman-Fried.