By George Glover
Bitcoin, the world's largest token, climbed as high as $99,518 in early Friday trading before falling. It was down at $98,159, putting it about $2,000 shy of hitting the six-figure price for the first time ever.
Bitcoin has reached a record high for five sessions in a row, powered higher by the expectation that President-elect Donald Trump will slash crypto regulation as well as heavy buying from MicroStrategy, the largest holder of the token. Gary Gensler's decision to resign as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission is also expected to be bullish for cryptos.
Fellow large-cap token Ethereum was sliding, but Dogecoin bucked the trend. The so-called meme token, which has been touted in the past by Trump ally Elon Musk, climbed 2.4% to just over 39 cents.
Bulls got more good news on the regulation front Thursday when Gensler -- widely seen as a digital-asset hawk -- said he'd resign on inauguration day. Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would replace the SEC chief, who's cracked down on several crypto companies during his time running the regulator.
Gensler quitting "could pave the way for a friendlier stance on crypto," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman said earlier this week. "The Bitcoin and crypto debate will wage on, but as the market grows and regulation looks like a realistic near-term outcome, it's becoming harder for investors to look the other way."
Other cryptocurrencies were picking up gains on Friday. Ethereum
MicroStrategy shares rose 1.5% in the premarket, having plummeted Thursday after a short seller said the company founded by Michael Saylor looked overvalued. Other crypto-related stocks were falling: online trading platform Robinhood Markets slid 0.7%, and digital-asset exchange Coinbase Global was down 1.7%.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 22, 2024 09:13 ET (14:13 GMT)
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