President-elect Donald Trump is wasting no time taking bows for bitcoin’s price rise — and the wealth it is creating for owners of the digital asset.
In a post early Thursday on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!”
The cryptocurrency notched the six-figure milestone late Wednesday, after spending several weeks hovering in the $90,000 range. Bitcoin’s price went skyward after Trump’s clear election victory in November, rising by $20,000 from about $68,318 in just seven days.
Year to date, it’s up more than 130%.
Cryptocurrency advocates are not pushing back on the idea that Trump deserves some credit for the latest price rally.
“His name is President Pump. Up only,” David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin magazine and the Bitcoin Conference, wrote on X.
The crypto community has also been emboldened by Trump’s latest Cabinet pick. In nominating Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, Trump wrote Wednesday that Atkins “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
Atkins leads Patomak Global Partners, a financial services advisory group that works with crypto industry clients. He also serves as an adviser to the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a crypto advocacy group.
In working with the chamber’s Token Alliance, Atkins has helped develop a set of best practices for regulating crypto.
Digital token fans have criticized the tenure of outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler for taking a punitive approach to the crypto world.
“It’s impossible to express the magnitude of the shift we’re likely to see at an SEC run by Paul Atkins,” wrote Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer for the financial technology group Variant. “Crypto has literally never existed without the overhang of uncertainty or hostility from US regulators. This moment is a regulatory singularity before a new era for crypto.”
Atkins’ nomination rounds out an incoming administration that is all-in on crypto.
Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, talked up the benefits of digital assets in an interview with Fox Business this year, according to Forbes.
“Crypto is about freedom, and the crypto economy is here to stay,” Bessent said. “Crypto is bringing in young people, people who have not participated in markets.”
Forbes also noted that Bessent has invested in blockchain startups and decentralized finance (DeFi) initiatives.
Other members of the incoming Trump administration, including Vice President-elect JD Vance, Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Commerce Secretary pick Howard Lutnick, have all stated having invested in and supporting cryptocurrencies.
Trump made courting crypto a cornerstone of his latest presidential run. This summer, he served as keynote speaker at a Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Even as he acknowledged his lack of complete understanding about how crypto technology works, Trump pledged to make America “the crypto capital of the planet,” if elected.
“We will have regulations, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” Trump said at the time.
