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Bitcoin continued to climb to fresh all-time highs on Thursday, approaching six-figure territory on news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering candidates for a position dedicated toward steering cryptocurrency policy.
Bitcoin jumped 4% in the early morning, trading around $97,920. The token, which is nearing a $2 trillion market cap, was the most-traded cryptocurrency Thursday morning, with trading volume surpassing $96 billion over the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The flurry of activity has been fueled by hopes that the incoming administration will be friendly to the crypto industry. Bitcoin has embarked on a wild rally since the election, with excitement stoked further on Thursday with news that Trump could create a new position to oversee and guide the crypt market, sources told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
It's unclear if the position will take the form of a senior White House official, or whether Trump will appoint an official "crypto czar," who would oversee crypto regulation across different areas of the government, the report said.
The role, though, would be the first of its kind in the White House, with most crypto regulation currently falling under the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Trump's team is in the process of interviewing candidates for the role at the Mar-a-Lago, with top industry figures in the running, the people added.
Brian Brooks, the former CEO of Binance.US and a potential shoo-in for the SEC Chair, spoke with Trump on Tuesday, people with knowledge of the meeting told the outlet.
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, also met with Trump on Monday, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal this week.
Trump's camp and Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Bitcoin has seen a sharp rally since Trump secured his second election win, with crypto investors hopeful that the President-elect will pursue policies that will help boost digital asset prices during his term. In particular, market players are looking for friendlier regulation, or even a national bitcoin stockpile, which Trump said he would create while on the campaign trail.
Last week, traders began to make bets that bitcoin could hit $100,000 before the end of the year, per Deribit exchange data cited by Bloomberg.
Six-figure bitcoin forecasts are also gaining traction on Wall Street. Standard Chartered said the crypto could rally to $125,000 by the end of the year, the firm said in a September note. Piper Sandler's chief market technician, Craig Johnson, said he saw bitcoin headed toward $130,000 in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
