Trump's Crypto-Friendly SEC Chief Helps Bitcoin Top $100,000

Bitcoin soared past $100,000 for the first time ever on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump named a new regulatory boss seen as friendly to the crypto sector.

Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is a former SEC commissioner who has been involved in crypto policy as co-chair of the Token Alliance, which works to “develop best practices for digital asset issuances and trading platforms”, and the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

It was a day to remember for bitcoin owners, who saw the cryptocurrency pass the $100,000 mark and trading around 5% higher on the day, as investors bet on a friendly US regulatory shift.

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Meanwhile, world stocks touched fresh record highs with sentiment bolstered by upbeat comments on the economy from Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.

Powell said the economy was stronger than it had appeared in September when the central bank began cutting interest rates, allowing policymakers to potentially be a little more cautious in reducing rates further.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index closed 0.3% higher, while MSCI’s world stock index touched a fresh high.

Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Genvil Wealth Management, said a fall in US Treasury yields in recent weeks, relatively robust US data and Powell’s latest comments were supporting sentiment in equity markets.

“But there is a risk to the euphoria,” he added. “Everything is going the right way, right now, but wait for January, (US President-elect Donald) Trump will take power and have to implement economic plans and people will realize that this could have some potential inflationary impact.”

Singapore-based Zipmex has become the latest crypto crash casualty, as it filed for bankruptcy protection in the city-state. — Bitcoin has soared since Trump won the US election. File pic: Reuters.

Billions flow into Bitcoin ETFs

Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, said bitcoin had risen on the back of major investment flows – tens of billions of dollars – that have gone into crypto exchange traded funds (ETFs) since they were approved early this year.

“At the end of the day, it’s just a number,” he said. “But the reality is we’ve been able to get to this level because the industry has become institutionalised this year particularly – and that’s mostly the ETF inflows.”

It was a day of positive sentiment, with US rate-cut optimism also lifting broader markets higher.

Over the past week and a half markets have all but priced in an extra US rate cut for 2025 and the implied chance of a cut in December has lifted from even to around 75%.

Earlier this week Fed Governor Christopher Waller had said he was leaning towards a cut later in December.

The closely watched US ISM survey showed services sector activity slowed in November after posting big gains in recent months. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields edged up after falling the previous day.

The week’s focus is on US employment data on Friday.

The dollar weakened against major currencies and was last down 0.25% at 150.23 yen.

The euro was a touch firmer at $1.0521, while sterling was up 0.1% at $1.2716.

French govt collapse was ‘priced in’

The risk premium investors demand to hold French debt over German Bunds dropped further away from its highest levels in over 12 years on Thursday after the widely expected collapse of the French government.

French stocks rallied to their highest levels in over three weeks.

“A lot of bad news was priced in, it was obvious that we were heading towards the fall of the government,” Savary Genvil Wealth Management, said.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar, at $0.6435 to the US dollar, was nursing its heaviest fall in a month on Wednesday following weaker-than-expected growth data.

But financial markets in South Korea were broadly steady after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law late on Tuesday triggered volatility and a political crisis.

Oil futures turned negative on Thursday after a source told Reuters OPEC+ had agreed to delay a planned oil output hike until April 2025.

Brent crude was down 25 cents to $72.06 a barrel at 1152 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate at $68.25.

Gold prices dipped 0.25% to $2,643 an ounce.