Crypto stocks reversed early gains as Bitcoin eased from session high. The largest digital asset briefly topped $98,000 on Thursday before dipping below $96,000. Meanwhile, Citron Research has taken a short position in MicroStrategy, the company said in a post on social media platform X on Thursday.
Coinbase fell 9%; Bitcoin Depot fell 8%; Bitfarms fell 7%; CleanSpark, Riot Platforms, Hut 8 Mining, Bakkt Holdings, and Canaan fell 6%; Bit Digital fell 4%; MicroStrategy fell 3%; while Marathon Digital rose 3%.
Bitcoin closed in on the historic $100,000 level, fueled by optimism that President-elect Donald Trump’s support for crypto heralds a boom as the US pivots to friendly regulations in place of a crackdown.
Trump’s transition team has begun to hold discussions over whether to create a White House post dedicated to digital-asset policy. The industry is pitching for the position — which would be the first of its kind in the US — to have a direct line to the president-elect, who is now one of crypto’s biggest cheerleaders.
The talks are the latest US boost for digital-asset market sentiment, alongside Bitcoin accumulator MicroStrategy Inc.’s plans to accelerate purchases of the token and the debut of options on the nation’s Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Speculators are increasingly focused on when, rather than if, Bitcoin will make the leap to $100,000. Advocates of its claimed role as a modern-day store of value cherish the six-figure number as a symbolic rebuttal of skeptics who see little utility in crypto and decry its links to money laundering and crime.
MicroStrategy, the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin, on Wednesday announced an almost 50% increase in planned sales of convertible senior notes, to $2.6 billion, to fund purchases of the token. The once obscure software maker now bills itself as a Bitcoin treasury company and has a roughly $31 billion stockpile of the digital asset.
A group of one dozen US ETFs investing in Bitcoin have attracted a net inflow of $5.8 billion in the period following Election Day, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The group’s total assets have reached an unprecedented $100 billion.
Trump has vowed to create a supportive US crypto regulatory framework and set up a strategic Bitcoin stockpile. The timeline for implementation of his promises and the feasibility of the Bitcoin reserve remain uncertain.
The president-elect used to be a crypto skeptic but changed tack after digital-asset firms spent heavily during election campaigning to promote their interests. He also has his own digital-asset projects.