President-elect Donald Trump is wasting no time praising the rising price of bitcoin – and the wealth it is creating for owners of the digital asset.
In a post Thursday morning on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Together we will make America great again!”
The cryptocurrency crossed the six-figure mark on Wednesday evening, after spending several weeks in the $90,000 range. The price of Bitcoin soared after Trump’s clear election victory in November, rising $20,000 from around $68,318 in just seven days.
Since the start of the year, that’s an increase of more than 130%.
Cryptocurrency supporters aren’t pushing back against the idea that Trump deserves some credit for the latest price rally.
“His name is President Pump. Up only,” David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine and the Bitcoin Conference, wrote on X.
The crypto community has also been emboldened by Trump’s latest Cabinet pick. In nominating Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, Trump wrote Wednesday that Atkins “recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to making America greater than ever.”
Atkins leads Patomak Global Partners, a financial services advisory group that works with clients in the crypto industry. He is also an advisor to the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a cryptocurrency advocacy group.
Working with the chamber’s Token Alliance, Atkins helped develop a set of best practices for regulating crypto.
Fans of digital tokens have criticized outgoing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s tenure for taking a punitive approach towards the crypto world.
“It is impossible to express the magnitude of change we are likely to see in a Paul Atkins-led SEC,” wrote Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer of financial technology group Variant. “Crypto has literally never existed without the overhang of uncertainty or hostility from U.S. regulators. This moment is a regulatory singularity ahead of a new era for crypto.”
Atkins’ appointment completes a new administration focused entirely on crypto.
Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, discussed the benefits of digital assets in an interview with Fox Business this year, according to Forbes.
“Crypto is about freedom, and the crypto economy is here to stay,” Bessent said. “Crypto attracts young people, people who haven’t participated in the markets.”
Forbes also noted that Bessent has invested in blockchain startups and decentralized finance (DeFi) initiatives.
Other members of the new Trump administration, including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Commerce Secretary pick Howard Lutnick, have all said they have invested and supported cryptocurrencies.
Trump made courting crypto a cornerstone of his latest presidential campaign. This summer he was a keynote speaker at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Although he acknowledged his lack of complete understanding of how crypto technology works, Trump pledged to make America “the crypto capital of the planet” if elected.
“We will have regulations, but from now on, the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” Trump said at the time.
