Bitcoin burst past $100,000 for the first time Thursday, while Seoul stocks slipped as South Korea's president faced impeachment after his brief imposition of martial law this week.
After hovering around the mid-$90,000 mark in recent weeks, the popular cryptocurrency finally shattered the historic level in Asia after incoming US president Donald Trump picked crypto proponent Paul Atkins to take over as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Atkins is founder of risk consultancy firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients include companies in the banking, trading and cryptocurrency industries. And Trump's transition team noted he had co-chaired the Digital Chamber of Commerce, which promotes the use of digital assets, since 2017. Atkins "recognises that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before", Trump said. Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said Atkins has "a track record of critiquing the SEC's tough stance on cryptocurrency firms".
"This strategic move has electrified the crypto community, fuelling investor optimism about a potentially more accommodating regulatory landscape under Atkins' watch," said Innes.
After breaking the key level, bitcoin continued to push higher and hit a peak of $103,800 on Thursday.
It has jumped more than 50 percent since Trump's victory -- and around 140 percent since the turn of the year -- on hopes the US president-elect will push through measures to deregulate cryptocurrencies.
On the election campaign trail, he pledged to make the United States the "bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world".
With AFP
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