CryptocurrenciesBitcoin rises to record high shortly before Trump's inauguration
SDA
20.1.2025 - 08:39
Bitcoin has risen to a new high shortly before Donald Trump's inauguration. Investors are hoping for crypto-friendly policies from the new US president. (symbolic image)
Keystone
Bitcoin rose to a record high on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration as US President. Since Trump's election, the price of the oldest and best-known cryptocurrency has climbed continuously.
Keystone-SDA
20.01.2025, 08:39
20.01.2025, 11:50
SDA
On Monday morning, the Bitcoin price on the Bitstamp trading platform moved up to USD 109,356, leaving the old record from mid-December behind. Trump had promised to loosen regulations for cryptocurrencies.
The Stuttgart Stock Exchange therefore expects high demand for cryptocurrencies under US President Donald Trump. "The new US administration is very crypto-friendly," Matthias Voelkel, head of the Börse Stuttgart Group, told the German Press Agency.
Bitcoin on the rise since US election
Bitcoin has been on an upward trend for almost two years. The most recent driver of the rally was the election of Trump as the new US president in November last year. Since then, Bitcoin has gained almost 60 percent.
Many crypto investors are betting that the Trump administration will relax legal supervision of the crypto industry. They are also betting that the new US government under Trump will invest a counterweight to the state gold reserve in Bitcoin.
The US owns over 8100 tons of the precious metal worth around USD 670 billion, making it the largest known gold investor in the world.
Trump's personal crypto deals
A number of digital commemorative coins, so-called "meme coins", are also benefiting from the crypto boom. These are smaller cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin or Shiba Inu, which are based on internet memes and pop culture phenomena. Companies associated with Donald Trump's family have recently jumped on this bandwagon and issued their own "meme coins".
The market value of the "$TRUMP" digital coin presented by Trump on Friday rose to almost 15 billion dollars at the weekend - but then temporarily slipped below the 11 billion dollar mark on Monday. At the weekend, Trump's wife Melania followed up with her own "meme coin". The market value of "$MELANIA" rose to a good two billion dollars on Monday thanks to strong demand from Trump supporters.
"Crypto is an object of speculation"
Against the backdrop of enormous price fluctuations, consumer advocates are warning against getting caught up in crypto fever. According to the consumer advice center, no one can seriously predict whether Bitcoin, variants of it or other cryptocurrencies will prevail as an alternative to conventional monetary systems in the medium term. "Developments in recent years have increasingly moved away from the idea of an alternative means of payment and towards an object of speculation."