Bitcoin reached a record price of more than US$87,000 this Monday (11), a dizzying recovery amid expectations that cryptocurrencies will prosper in a more permissive regulatory environment, following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections. United States and pro-crypto candidates for Congress.
The largest and best-known cryptocurrency in the world, bitcoin more than doubled from this year’s low of US$38.5 thousand (R$221.6 thousand) and was at US$87.1 thousand dollars (R$ 501.1 thousand), an increase of almost 9% compared to the end of last Sunday, having previously reached a record of 87,460 dollars.
Shares of U.S.-listed cryptocurrency companies also rose, with Coinbase Global jumping 22% and iShares Bitcoin Trust rising 13%.
Crypto mining firm Riot Platforms rose 19%, while MicroStrategy, one of bitcoin’s biggest corporate backers, gained nearly 24%.
Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “cryptocurrency capital of the world” and accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.
“The outcome of the 2024 US election is a moment of renaissance for the cryptocurrency industry,” said Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer and co-founder of asset manager Arca, in a research note.
“Events in crypto with this level of significance are rare. When they happen, they immediately expand the world’s collective perspective on the potential of the cryptocurrency movement and where this technology will take the world going forward.”
Short sellers of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks have suffered huge losses since Nov. 6 after bitcoin hit record highs. Combined short-selling losses at Coinbase, cryptocurrency miners Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings and blockchain farm operator Bitfarms were about $1.2 billion at the close on Nov. 8.
End Cryptocurrency Scrutiny
Investors are hoping for an end to heightened scrutiny of cryptocurrencies from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who Trump has said he will replace.
The cryptocurrency industry has spent more than $119 million to support pro-crypto candidates in Congress, many of whom won their races.
In Ohio, one of the industry’s biggest enemies in Congress — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown — was ousted, while pro-crypto candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties won in Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama and North Carolina .
(Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Ankur Banerjee and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan)
