Bitcoin Crosses $99,000 On Its Way To The $100,000 Milestone

On Thursday, Bitcoin (BTC) breached the $99,000 mark for the first time as the flagship cryptocurrency extended its streak of record highs since Donald Trump was declared the winner of the U.S. presidential elections. 

Bitcoin Registers $99,000 ATH As Investors Bet On $100,000 Valuation 

According to Coin Metrics data, the price of the world’s largest crypto asset by market capitalization rose as high as $99,046, 4% higher than its peak of $98,273 from the day prior. 

BTC has been regularly hitting all-time highs this month as investors are hopeful that President-elect Trump will usher in supportive regulation for the industry and establish a potential national strategic Bitcoin reserve. The cryptocurrency has seen its price skyrocket by more than 40% in just two weeks. 

CryptoQuant data suggests that the latest move to the upside was triggered by a spike in funding rates and open interest on the BTC futures markets during Asia trading. It has also triggered a wave of liquidations, more than $100 million over the last 24 hours, which helped send the price further up. 

Rob Ginsberg, an analyst at Wolfe Research, said in a note referring to previous moves of this magnitude that Bitcoin has seen its value either go into a consolidation period or ignore the overbought condition when “investors pile in”. 

He added that the flagship crypto asset is “breaking out” of one of its longest consolidation periods and the result is a new high. The analyst expects the real test to come when the price hits $100,000 in the coming weeks. 

Experts expect BTC to hit the highly-anticipated $100,000 valuation as early as this week. 

$2 Billion Options Trades On Spot Bitcoin ETFs Drive Prices To Record Highs

Bitcoin’s latest peak was largely driven by the launch of options trading for the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this week. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) announced the feature on Tuesday, followed by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust (BITB), ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin (FBTC) on Wednesday. 

This came after the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), a key institution that serves as the central clearinghouse for options and futures contracts in the United States, announced that it was preparing for the investment products backed by Bitcoin. 

According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) managed to tally an exposure of nearly $1.9 billion, trading 354,000 options contracts. This included 289,000 calls for the BTC price to rise and 65,000 puts for it to fall, indicating that more investors are banking on Bitcoin to increase in value than decline. 

In an X post, Seyffart wrote that the Bitcoin ETF options “almost certainly” contributed to the apex cryptocurrency surging to new all-time highs. Fellow ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the options trading volume on the funds was “unheard of” for the first day. 

In the meantime, the spot Bitcoin ETFs registered nearly $1.86 billion in total inflows this week through Wednesday. IBIT led the charts with $931.9 million inflows, followed by FBTC at $450 million. Since their launch in January, the BTC-backed investment funds have generated a total of $29.32 billion in inflows, tipping the market cap of gold ETFs, which has been trading for two decades, in less than 10 months. 

Trump Expected To Appoint White House Crypto Aide

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise of supporting the crypto sector. Earlier this week, he announced plans to nominate Howard Lutnick, the CEO of investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald as the head of the Department of Commerce. 

Lutnick is an outspoken advocate for the crypto sector, and as co-chairman of the Trump transition team, is expected to play an active role in designing policies for the digital asset industry. 

During June’s Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Lutnick called Cantor Fitzgerald the best investment bank for crypto assets. The bank also serves as the custodian of stablecoin issuer Tether’s U.S. dollar reserves for its USDT coin.

Trump is also considering a first-of-its-kind White House crypto role solely focused on industry policy. The transition team is reportedly vetting candidates, with several industry players pushing for a position that will have a direct line to the President.  

The 47th President is seemingly taking industry advice for the role. On Monday, Trump spoke with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. The two are expected to meet to discuss cabinet picks related to the crypto sector. 

The crypto market eagerly awaits Trump’s picks to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (SEC). Current SEC chairman Gary Gensler, the Biden appointee largely responsible for the agency’s crackdown on the sector, will be resigning on January 20, the day Trump will be inaugurated as President. 

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $98,975 – up 1.37% in the last 24 hours. 

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