Investing.com — Bitcoin edged past the coveted $100,000 level in Asian trading on Friday, with some profit-taking spurred by expectations for further cues on U.S. interest rates. After that, it fell.
The world's largest cryptocurrency soared to an all-time high on Thursday, amid growing optimism that crypto regulations will be eased under President-elect Donald Trump. Traders were particularly pleased with President Trump's choice of a pro-crypto candidate to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
By 12:43 a.m. ET (5:43 p.m. Japan time), shares were down 4.5% to $97,830.3. The coin hit an all-time high of $103,719.4 before falling to $91,000.
Broad crypto movements were restricted on Friday in hopes that key data released later in the day would provide further clues about US interest rates.
President Trump names David Sachs as White House AI and Cryptocurrency Czar
President Trump continues his trend of crypto-friendly Cabinet picks, with venture capitalist David Sachs on Thursday taking on a newly created role advising the White House on regulating cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. He said it would be.
This follows the creation of a virtual currency advisory board, and Trump's picks for Treasury and Commerce secretaries are also expected to support deregulation and digital assets.
Earlier this week, President Trump nominated former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to lead the agency. Atkins is also a crypto advocate, and the SEC's two-year regulatory drive against cryptocurrencies is expected to end, or at least wind down.
Bitcoin's dominance could weaken under kinder regulation – City
Citi analysts wrote in a recent note that while there are certainly positive regulatory and macroeconomic trends for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin's dominance in the crypto market will dwindle as the industry becomes more regulated. I warned you that this is a possibility.
Citi said the regulatory clarity opens the door to more cryptocurrency use cases and could enable other smaller coins and tokens to be used in real-world use cases. They pointed out that Bitcoin is already treated as a commodity and its use is restricted.
“Over the long term, we believe the usefulness and value of a network will be related not only to usage, but also to macro correlations and production costs,” Citi analysts wrote, but in such a scenario, other He pointed out that there are fewer benefits for Bitcoin compared to virtual currencies. The company, like several of its peers, also downplays Bitcoin's potential as a reserve asset.
Crypto prices today: Altcoins track Bitcoin losses, set for solid week
On Friday, most cryptocurrency prices remained within a narrow range, under pressure from Bitcoin losses. However, it was expected to outpace Bitcoin this week.
The world's second-largest cryptocurrency rose 1.8% to $3,918.19, up 3.5% this week.
The company, which has been the biggest beneficiary of speculation over the next SEC chief, rose 1.8%, its fifth straight week of big gains, but only 21% for the week.
XRP hit a six-year high on speculation that the SEC would drop its long-running case against the issuer.
was muted on Friday. Meme tokens fell 2.1%.
