It was trading above the $84,500 mark at press time.
“We have seen Bitcoin surge to an all-time high following Trump’s victory in the US election because he has consistently supported this asset class,” said Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of Mudrex, a global crypto investment platform.
Crypto Tracker
Bitcoin prices have soared by around 127% in the past year from $36,000 levels. Dow Jones industrial Average index of the US and India’s benchmark Nifty 50 have gone up 30.3% and 11.11%, respectively, during this period. The virtual currency was at $69,373.7 on the day of voting in the US, also the day before Trump claimed victory. It has surged about $14,600 since then.In his pre-election manifesto, Trump pledged to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet”. These remarks raised expectations that he would scrape the tighter regulations on cryptocurrencies introduced by the Joe Biden administration.
“With the US being a mature and broad market, where 30-40% of Americans hold cryptos, we expect new, crypto-friendly frameworks to emerge under the Trump administration, potentially influencing other countries to follow suit,” said Patel.Price OutlookShort-term derivatives indicators in the US suggest that Bitcoin may continue making new highs.
“In the past 24 hours, we have seen the liquidation of a lot of short positions in Bitcoin, suggesting that traders are really bullish about it in the near term,” said Jyotsna Hirdyani, South Asia head at Bitget, a global crypto exchange.
“We are also closely monitoring the funding rate for Bitcoin, as it deviates. If the funding rate continues to rise along with prices, it would indicate increasing market leverage implying more bullish momentum & volatility.”
BITCOIN IN INDIA
In India, cryptocurrencies haven’t gained widespread acceptance yet, following the RBI crackdown, which was later reversed by the Supreme Court. “The India crypto narrative has been caught in this false premise of Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and what the government calls ‘private crypto’,” said brokerage Bernstein’s analysts in a client note.
“This framing is its own pitfall. Framing Bitcoin as a ‘private currency’ missed the strong proposition of Bitcoin as a ‘store of value’ asset in a world dealing with looming inflation, record US debt, lack of fiscal discipline, and geopolitical risks.”
Domestic crypto industry officials expect more investors to trade in the digital currency in the wake of the run-up in prices. “This year, we’ve observed a greater acceptance and adoption of crypto, which we anticipate will increase over the next 6-9 months as adoption in the US drives further interest in India,” said Patel.
BUY BITCOIN?
Patel recommends investors with higher risk appetite to allocate up to 5-10% of their money in bitcoins. “Bitcoin isn’t as risky as it may seem and has shown less volatility than Tesla stock over the past year,” said Patel. “This volatility is also decreasing as the asset class matures and adoption grows.”