Bitcoin once surpassed $106,000, setting new all-time highs in rapid succession.
According to the global virtual asset market tracking site CoinMarketCap on the 16th, as of 10:30 a.m. that day, Bitcoin was trading at $105,173 each. This represents an increase of 5.26% from a week ago and 3.61% from the previous day.
Bitcoin surpassed $104,000 around 8:30 a.m. that day. It set a new high for the first time after recording $103,800 on the 5th, marking its highest price in 12 days. The previous all-time high recorded at Coinbase on the 4th, which was $104,000, has now been broken in 11 days.
About an hour later, around 9:40 a.m., the price of Bitcoin soared to $106,449, setting yet another all-time high. As a result, the increase from the level of around $70,000 on the day of the U.S. presidential election has exceeded 50%.
Market forecasts suggest that Bitcoin prices will surpass $110,000. Sakamoore, an analyst at the derivatives trading platform IG, noted, "The next figure the market expects is $110,000."
This upward trend appears to be attributed to comments made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump regarding 'strategic reserves' of Bitcoin. Trump stated in an interview with CNBC on the 12th when asked, 'Do you have plans to build cryptocurrency reserves similar to oil reserves?' that 'It seems so.' He added, 'We will achieve great things with cryptocurrency, especially as countries like China embrace it.'
Earlier, Trump appointed former PayPal executive David Sacks as the White House's artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency lead, and selected Paul Atkins as Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Sacks has a tenuous relationship with Elon Musk, while Atkins is known to be pro-cryptocurrency.