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Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin briefly topped $77,000 Friday, a new all-time high for the cryptocurrency.
- The recent bitcoin rally has been driven by Trump’s election win and promise of a more crypto-friendly administration.
- Investors poured billions into spot bitcoin ETFs Wednesday and Thursday. These products hold bitcoin and helped propel bitcoin to highs earlier this year.
- Bitcoin’s recent jump has a growing number of analysts calling for its price to cross $100,000 by the end of the year.
Bitcoin (BTCUSD) hit another record high on Friday amid continued optimism about the election of Donald Trump and a potentially more crypto-friendly Congress.
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap moved as high as $77,300 Friday afternoon, just days after creating other price milestones. The gains come as the stock market has also hit a series of all-time highs following Trump’s decisive victory in the Tuesday presidential election.
Over the past two days, investors have poured nearly $2 billion into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to data from Farside Investors. On Thursday alone, these products saw $1.3 billion in net inflows, with roughly $1.1 billion of those funds headed into BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
These products hold bitcoin, and with investors pouring money into them can fuel demand for bitcoin, pushing prices higher—just the way they did earlier this year.
Trump Win, Pro-Crypto Lawmakers Boost Sentiment
Trump embraced cryptocurrencies this election cycle, a reversal of his prior criticism, and promised to create a strategic bitcoin reserve. He also vowed to replace Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, under whose tenure the agency pursued strict enforcement against the crypto industry.
This election has also brought into office more pro-crypto lawmakers. According to Coinbase research, “the House of Representatives gained 263 pro-crypto candidates versus 118 anti-crypto candidates and the Senate gained 18 pro-crypto candidates versus 12 anti-crypto candidates.”
What’s Next? Bitcoin at $100K?
That is not only fueling investor enthusiasm in the near term but is also leading to growing projections for bitcoin prices to cross the $100K mark.
In a recent note, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said he expects bitcoin prices to cross $100,000 by the end of this year. And he’s not the only one.
“Six figures is still possible for [bitcoin] before the end of the year, and then more next year,” the Fundstrat head of research, Tom Lee, told CNBC Friday.