Bitcoin price today: hits record high as Trump team mulling plans for crypto czar
Investing.com– Bitcoin hit a fresh record high and remained near those levels on Wednesday as President-elect Donald Trump’s team is mulling whether to create a new White House role dedicated toward cryptocurrency policy, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.
Bitcoin rose 0.1% to $93,730 by 1:56 p.m. ET (1856 GMT). The world’s biggest crypto hit a record high of nearly $94,836.1 earlier in the day.
Bitcoin underpinned by Trump trade
Bitcoin rose sharply over the past two weeks, with gains sparked largely by Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
In a sign that Trump is following up on his promise to make the United States the crypto capital of the world, the president elect is reportedly considering whether to create a new White House role dedicated toward cryptocurrency policy.
Trump’s team are vetting candidates to serve in a dedicated crypto role, Bloomberg reported. The news comes just as many are eager for detials on just what Trump’s policies will entail for crypto, with the president-elect set to take office in about two months.
Sentiment towards Bitcoin was also boosted by MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR), the world’s biggest corporate holder of the coin, buying a record high $4.6 billion of the coin in the past week. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor indicated that the company will keep buying more coins, issuing more debt to fund its purchases.
Bitcoin’s surge to new record high helped by ETF options launch
Options trading for a spot Bitcoin ETF launched on Tuesday, helping drive Bitcoin’s price to a new all-time high.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) became the first spot Bitcoin ETF approved for options trading, generating nearly $1.9 billion in notional exposure on its first day, according to Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart.
“Final tally of $IBIT’s 1st day of options is just shy of $1.9 billion in notional exposure traded via 354k contracts. 289k were Calls and 65k were Puts,” Seyffart shared in a post on X. “That’s a ratio of 4.4:1. These options were almost certainly part of the move to the new bitcoin all-time highs today.”
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted the scale of activity, noting, “$1.9b is unheard of for Day One. For context, ProShares Bitcoin ETF (NYSE:BITO) did $363 million and that’s been around for four years,” in his own post on X.
Crypto price today: altcoins mixed
Broader crypto markets also advanced on Wednesday, tracking Bitcoin’s another record-breaking jump.
Meanwhile, risk appetite in stock markets was seen faltering, as investors hunkered down before closely-watched earnings from market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), due later on Wednesday.
In crypto, world no.2 crypto Ether fell13 to $3,040.31.
XRP and MATIC fell 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively, while ADA surged over 6%.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin fell 10%, remaining in sight of a three-year high hit earlier in November, after Trump’s victory.
Trump referenced the token with the formation of the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, adding to the social media buzz around the popular meme token.
Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.
