Bitcoin price above $102,000 as traders eye Trump’s next moves

Bitcoin (Bitcoin-dollar) settled around the $102,000 (£82,660) mark. Cryptocurrency Investors are awaiting clarity on whether the new Trump administration will follow through on the pro-crypto proposals put forward during the 2024 US presidential election campaign.

Bitcoin fell a modest 1% on Thursday, but remained up 2.6% during the week, rebounding from a post-inauguration low to just over $99,500 late Monday, according to Coinjiku. Data.

Read more: Live crypto prices

While the rebound has provided some relief, market sentiment remains cautious, as investors wait to see if Trump has over-promised on his proposed cryptocurrency policy reforms.

While Trump’s inauguration speech on January 20 made no mention of cryptocurrencies, his recent regulatory appointments have offered a glimmer of hope for the digital assets sector. The naming of Mark Ueda as interim head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Carolyn Pham as acting head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been well received by the cryptocurrency community.

Read more: What does Trump’s planned banking deregulation mean for investors?

Mark Ueda, a senior SEC official, has been an outspoken critic of the agency’s previous cryptocurrency enforcement policies under former Chairman Gary Gensler. Ueda called the SEC’s approach “poorly designed” and called for clearer regulatory guidelines for digital assets.

“The SEC’s new leadership has formed a task force dedicated to developing a regulatory framework for crypto assets,” said analysts at QCP Capital. “This initiative promises to be a game-changer in the digital assets space.”

Likewise, Pham’s appointment to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sparked optimism. Pham has championed digital asset innovation in the past, leading initiatives such as the creation of the Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee. In 2023, it proposed a “US regulatory sandbox” to encourage innovation in emerging technologies and called for a pilot program to support digital assets.

Investors are also focusing on whether the president will issue executive orders to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).

This would involve the US government acquiring bitcoin and holding it as a strategic asset, similar to the way gold is traditionally used as a reserve. While Trump’s campaign rhetoric has been pro-cryptocurrencies, his follow-up on such issues has yet to be tested.

Amid ongoing regulatory developments, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon played down concerns that Bitcoin could threaten the US dollar’s dominance. Speaking in an interview with CNBC At the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Solomon said: “I don’t think bitcoin is a threat to the US dollar.”

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