The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged in value again after surpassing $100,000 for the first time last month – shortly after ‘crypto President’ Donald Trump won the election
Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high just hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged in value again on Monday morning after surpassing $100,000 for the first time last month. On Friday, it rose around 5% – before taking a dramatic $9,000 leap this morning, according to CoinDesk. It was trading at around $20,000 two years ago.
The overall crypto market has seen a boost of more than half a trillion dollars over the last week, bringing its new record to $3.74 trillion as of Monday. Amid the market-wide hike, Trump, a self-proclaimed ‘crypto President’, launched his very own cryptocurrency along with wife Melania.
He announced his coin on Friday while Melania shared hers on Sunday night. Writing on X, she announced the news to her followers, saying: “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.” While both currencies have seen sharp rises, fluctuations in their values have made for a volatile trade.
According to CoinMarketCap, $MELANIA was trading at around $12.03, with a market cap of $1.9 billion, at 08.20 GMT on Monday. Trump on the other hand has had more success with his meme coin, which rose to $58.56, boasting a market cap of around $11.7 billion. Such figures would make the new President’s coin the 18th biggest cryptocurrency.
Artwork for the coin shows Trump raising his fist next to the words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” – a nod to his reaction on his assassination attempt in July. An image for Melania’s currency shows a black and white portrait of the incoming First Lady smiling with her hands clapsed in front of her face.
Despite being a former bitcoin skeptic and once dubbing the digital currency “a scam,” Trump has now embraced the move, promising to be a “crypto president” and to make the US into the “crypto capital” of the world when he enters the White House.
In line with these ambitions plans, Trump wants to create a US crypto stockpile, introduce industry-friendly regulation and appoint a crypto “czar” for his administration – who will take executive orders to reduce regulatory roadblocks. At a Bitcoin conference last summer, he told an audience of digital currency enthusiasts: “You’re going to be very happy with me.”
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, was launched in 2009 as a digital currency that allows people to make payments without relying on a central authority like a bank or government.
