BANGKOK – A surge in Bitcoin has put the original cryptocurrency on the verge of topping a record high of almost US$74,000 reached in March.
The digital asset climbed to as high as US$73,564 on Oct 29 in New York before churning below US$73,000 in early Asian trading hours on Oct 30. The rally was a tailwind for smaller tokens such as Ether and meme-crowd favourite Dogecoin.
Bitcoin is viewed by some as a so-called “Trump trade” because Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump embraced digital assets during campaigning. Trump is ahead in prediction markets, while polls show a neck-and-neck race against Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.
The token is continuing to “price in a Donald Trump election victory”, Mr Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia, wrote in a note.
Bitcoin needs a sustained break past US$70,000 to boost confidence that it can rally beyond March’s record high of US$73,798, he added.
The cryptocurrency has jumped approximately 73 per cent so far in 2024.
Trump has vowed to make the US the crypto capital of the planet. Ms Harris has adopted a more measured approach, pledging to support a regulatory framework for the industry. Their positions contrast with a crackdown on the sector under President Joe Biden.
Trump has also said that he will ask billionaire Elon Musk – a major donor to his campaign – to head up a push to cut government spending. The effort is nicknamed the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a reference to the Dogecoin token that Mr Musk has embraced.
Mr Musk’s affiliation with the Trump campaign has helped to lift sentiment among traders, according to Ms Arisa Toyosaki, co-founder of Cega, a crypto derivatives service provider.
Options traders have increased bets that Bitcoin will reach a peak of
