Jai Hamid
Bitcoin hit $80,000 on Sunday, the highest it’s ever been. Ether is tagging along too, passing $3,000 over the weekend and trading at $3,203.10.
XRP shot up 11%, Cardano is up a whopping 40%, and meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are having a field day with 17% and 31% gains, respectively. It’s a straight bull market, and everyone’s feeling it.
People are pumped. Donald Trump is back in office, or at least about to be, and it looks like he’s all-in on crypto. Alex Thorn from Galaxy Digital says this could be a “golden era” for crypto.
Trump’s team is reportedly stuffed with crypto advocates, family members, and old buddies who are ready to put in work. He says he wants to make America the “crypto capital of the world.” For the first time in history, there’s a self-proclaimed “crypto president” in the largest crypto market on the planet.
Bitcoin gains new safe haven status
Bitcoin has always stood out, but now it’s gaining a status almost on par with gold. What’s fascinating is that, unlike stocks or bonds, the SEC doesn’t classify Bitcoin as a security. That’s a huge advantage because it means Bitcoin can dodge a lot of the regulatory heat.
Trump’s team is even floating the idea of a national Bitcoin reserve, meaning all the Bitcoin mined in America stays here.
There’s hope that the new administration will revisit some rules around staking, particularly for spot ETFs, which have done well but not as well as expected due to a lack of staking rewards. The industry has been whispering that 2025 could bring in these changes, and people can’t wait.
According to Alex Thorn, “In this environment, over the next two years, we expect that Bitcoin and other digital assets will trade significantly higher than the current all-time high.” Bitcoin’s price trajectory has never been higher, and no one in the market is feeling bearish right now.
Since election day, Bitcoin’s value has shot up 18%, and Ether isn’t far behind with a 32% jump. Coinbase, the top crypto exchange in the U.S., saw its best week since early 2023 with a 48% rise. The buzz around Bitcoin isn’t just about crypto folks either.
Mainstream investors who’ve been hesitant are starting to take notice as well. Analysts from Standard Chartered say that if Republicans secure the House, Trump’s administration could push pro-crypto policies right off the bat.
“We’d expect several positives for the asset class early in the administration,” says Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered. According to him, there might be a friendlier SEC for crypto under Trump.
With the U.S. government finally loosening up on crypto, many are looking forward to institutional investors coming on board in bigger numbers. Hedge funds, asset managers—everyone is watching Bitcoin now.
Trump’s wild Bitcoin promises and industry reactions
Let’s not forget: Trump, who once called Bitcoin a “scam,” is now the biggest crypto hype man out there. He’s talking up Bitcoin every chance he gets, even promoting a crypto venture connected to his business buddies and his sons.
Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, thinks this could be the start of a “golden era” for digital assets. Binance, by the way, is still dealing with the aftermath of a massive $4.3 billion fine for money laundering and sanctions issues.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, is hopeful about the direction this is going. “America is going to follow a path toward economic freedom,” he says.
“Trump’s inner circle is extremely supportive of digital assets,” Thorn adds, and that support seems like it’s translating into policy.
But not everyone’s on board with the hype. David Yermack, a finance professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, isn’t buying all of Trump’s promises. “Trump has made some wild promises on the campaign trail,” Yermack points out. “But when you listen to him actually talk about digital currency, he has no idea what it is.”
Yermack thinks that we might see some movement on crypto policy regardless of who’s in office. In his view, even a Harris administration would’ve likely approached the space with more intelligence than the current administration.
Trump’s stance is, without a doubt, worlds away from Joe Biden’s hardline approach to digital assets. Gary Gensler, Biden’s SEC chair, hammered the industry for years, calling it a cesspool of fraud and misconduct.
The SEC doubled down after the 2022 crypto crash, and the collapse of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed exchange and Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs, didn’t help matters. Since then, crypto companies have been walking on eggshells, but with Trump’s victory, some are seeing a glimmer of relief.
