(Reuters) -Bitcoin rose to a record high above $106,000 in early Asian trading on Monday, boosted by comments from newly elected President Donald Trump suggesting he plans to create a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve, similar to its strategic oil reserve.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest and best-known cryptocurrency, reached a high of $106,533 and last traded at $105,688. Minor crypto ether rose nearly 3% to 4,014.
“We’re in blue sky territory here,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG. “The next number the market will be looking for is $110,000. The pullback that many people were waiting for just didn’t happen because now we have this news.”
“We’re going to do something great with crypto because we don’t want China or anyone else — not just China, but others are embracing it — and we want to be the head,” Trump told CNBC late last week.
When asked if he plans to build a crypto reserve similar to oil reserves, Trump said: “Yes, I think so.”
Other countries have also considered strategic cryptocurrency reserves.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month questioned the need to hold state reserves in foreign currencies, saying domestic investment in such reserves was more attractive.
Putin said the current US administration is undermining the US dollar’s role as a reserve currency in the global economy by using it for political purposes, forcing many countries to turn to alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies.
“Bitcoin for example, who can ban it? Nobody,” Putin said.
However, there are skeptics, with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell comparing Bitcoin to gold earlier this month.
“People don’t use it as a means of payment, or as a store of value. It’s very volatile, it’s not a competitor to the dollar.”
CRYPTO BOOST
Bitcoin has risen more than 50% since the November 5 election, which saw Trump elected along with many other pro-crypto candidates. According to data provider CoinGecko, the total value of the cryptocurrency market nearly doubled in the past year to a record of more than $3.8 trillion.
Trump this month named a White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies: former PayPal executive David Sacks, a close friend of Trump adviser and megadonor Elon Musk.
Trump also said he would appoint pro-crypto lawyer Paul Atkins of Washington to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Friday, stock market operator Nasdaq said MicroStrategy will be added to the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index after a meteoric rise in the bitcoin buyer’s shares.
MicroStrategy, an aggressive investor in the world’s largest crypto assets, has seen its shares soar more than sixfold this year, bringing its market value to nearly $94 billion. It is now the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast)
