Bitcoin on Fire: The Unrelenting Ascent of the World’s Most Powerful Digital Currency

As Donald Trump, who has called himself the ‘president of virtual assets’, was elected as the 47th President of the United States, Bitcoin-related stocks were listed on the US stock market, including Bitcoin, the leading virtual asset, and even unlisted stocks on domestic currency exchanges are in turmoil.

Coinbase (COIN), the largest virtual asset exchange in the United States, ended trading at $254.31 on the 6th (local time), up 31.11% from the previous day. This is the highest price in 107 days since July 23rd.

On this day, MicroStrategy (MSTR), the representative theme stock of Bitcoin, also rose 13.17%. MicroStrategy owns 252,220 bitcoins. It is an information technology (IT) company that holds the largest number of bitcoins among single companies, excluding exchange traded funds (ETFs). Bitcoin mining stocks Marathon Digital Holdings and CleanSpark rose 18.97% and 23.01%, respectively.

This is because expectations have grown that virtual asset market regulations will be greatly relaxed with Trump’s election. Former President Trump announced at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in July that he would make the United States the capital of virtual assets and fire the chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, who called it a “serious virtual asset . reaper’. If Trump fires Chairman Gensler and blocks SEC regulation of virtual assets, it will be great news for the coin industry, including Coinbase.

What the industry is paying the most attention to is the repeal of the ‘Operation Choke Point 2.0’ regulations promised by Trump. This regulation is an administrative sanction that prohibits banks from providing virtual asset services and granting banking licenses to virtual asset companies. In effect, it blocks the fund’s inflow path to the virtual asset market.

Bitcoin also continued its rapid rise. Bitcoin rose 8.94% on the 6th. In particular, at one point on this day, it rose to $76,400, breaking an all-time high. Bitcoin’s market capitalization rose to $1.49 trillion due to this surge, ranking 9th in global asset market capitalization.

Altcoins, coins other than Bitcoin, also rose significantly. Ethereum rose 12.36%, Solana rose 11.99%, and Ripple rose 5.41%.

Dogecoin received special attention. In a public speech in early September, Trump said that Elon Musk had agreed to be in charge of the department, saying, “I will create a Department of Government Effectiveness that will make bold reform recommendations.” The ‘Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’ has the same name as Dogecoin, which Musk floats. Dogecoin rose 15.57% the previous day.

Investors are anticipating whether the surge in altcoins will fuel the rise of altcoins. This is because Bitcoin’s share of the total market capitalization of virtual assets rose to 60.9% this morning and then fell slightly. It is about 44 months since March 2021 that the market share is more than 60%. Typically, when Bitcoin’s market share increases rapidly, investment funds are diverted to altcoins.

As Bitcoin rose significantly, the volume of transactions on Upbit, a domestic exchange, also increased significantly. According to Coin Gecko, a coin statistics site, Upbit, whose daily trading volume has remained at the level of 2 trillion won since March this year, surpassed 8 trillion won in trading volume on the 6th. Accordingly, Dunamu and Bithumb Korea, operators of the unlisted stock Upbit, also rose 7.00% and 3.46%, respectively, compared to the previous day.

[최근도 기자 / 한상헌 기자]