The cryptocurrency industry, already buoyed by the election of recent convert and investor Donald Trump, had a milestone to celebrate Sunday when bitcoin climbed to the $80,000 mark for the first time. Smaller coins also posted big gains, CNBC reports. Memecoins dogecoin and Shiba Inu rose 17% and 31%, for instance. "Crypto is poised to enter a golden era," Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said in a research note Friday. "Trump has promised to make America the 'crypto capital of the world' and his high level team is filled with strong crypto advocates."
Trump was not big on cryptocurrencies during his first term in office. But he has a financial stake in the industry now, CNN points out. Trump and his children started their own crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September. "I do believe in it," he said in making the announcement. Trump spoke at this year's Bitcoin Conference and raised campaign money from the industry. He promised to reverse Biden administration policies and take a more industry-friendly regulatory approach, saying that if elected, "the persecution stops."
And Trump ally Elon Musk is into crypto, as well. His preferred coin, Dogecoin, shot up more than 20% on Sunday. Bitcoin, which slipped just under $80,000 in trading later in the day, is up 80% for the year, swamping the otherwise major 25.7% gain posted by the S&P 500. "What was once an oppressive headwind in the world's largest capital market will now shift to a tailwind," Thorn wrote, "and no one is bullish enough." (More cryptocurrency stories.)
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