US President-elect Donald Trump announcing Paul Atkins as his pick for the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent waves across the financial West. On Thursday, for the first time, bitcoin broke into the USD 100,000 ceiling on marked positive sentiment over the cryptocurrency. Atkins, who served as the SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, is a famous crypto backer.
Back in July this year, Trump headlined the biggest bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This was a U-turn from his first round of presidency, where he dismissed the crypto as a “scam”.
Organisers of the Bitcoin 2024 conference also said that they were briefly in talks to have Kamala Harris appear, too. However, she declined. This might have proven costly to Harris during the US election as well, which happened four months from then.
The incoming SEC chair is also the founder of Patomak Global Partners. Banking, trading, and crypto firms form the company’s clientele. Bitcoin had already enjoyed an impressive rally since Trump’s win early in November, trading just below the USD 100,000-mark till earlier this week.
All it needed was a small nudge, and that came with Trump’s Atkins appointment.
Bitcoin hits a new peak—around Rs 88 lakh per coin
Bitcoin peaked at USD 103,900 or about Rs 88 lakh earlier on Thursday—up more than 50 per cent since Trump’s election win and around 140 per cent higher year-to-date. The market sentiment hinges on the hope that Trump will champion the deregulation of the sector.
“Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump had said, as he mentioned Atkins as someone who champions “innovative” markets. In contrast, bitcoin investors often alleged outgoing US President Joe Biden for bring “anti-crypto”.
During the Biden administration, Gary Gensler was the SEC chair, who was famously tough on both Wall Street and crypto markets. As he vacates his office in January 2025, Gensler has already passed more than 40 regulatory rules and sued many crypto firms for allegedly flouting SEC rules.
A little over fourteen years ago, in 2010, the media reported someone who paid for the delivery of two Papa John’s pizzas with 10,000 bitcoins. Back then, it amounted to a mere USD 40. The cryptocurrency that person spent on two pizzas is now valued at more than USD 1 billion—almost 50 million such pizzas, including a decent tip.
With USD 1 billion dollars, you can even buy more half of Papa Johns, the company—it's market cap is a little over USD 1.5 billion. Today, the total value of all the bitcoin in circulation is about USD 2 trillion. Quite a feat for a “passing fad.”
