Bitcoin Approaches Record High as Trump Inauguration Nears

Bitcoin was reportedly approaching a record high Friday as the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump neared.

The cryptocurrency was priced at $104,538 at 2:12 p.m. Pacific time, a figure that was up 4.56% for the day and 12.96% for the week, according to TradingView.

Earlier Friday, when bitcoin was at $102,595, TradingView said the cryptocurrency had achieved its best weekly gain since November and had surged 48% since the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Bloomberg reported Friday that bitcoin was on pace to make its largest weekly gain since the election and noted that it was doing so with Trump’s inauguration just days away.

Bitcoin reached a record high of $108,315 in December but declined in three of the past four weeks, according to the report.

The report attributed this week’s rebound to Trump’s expected pro-crypto policies and to a wider rally of riskier assets driven by investors’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will make further interest rate cuts.

It was reported Friday that Trump plans to issue, shortly after taking office, an executive order that would designate cryptocurrency as a national priority, guide government agencies to work closely with the crypto industry, and establish a crypto advisory council that will advocate for the industry’s policy priorities.

On Jan. 7, Fidelity said in a new report on the digital asset space that the world’s governments and central banks will be among the next “significant investors” in bitcoin.

Noting that governments such as the U.S. have requirements for the selling or handling of the bitcoin obtained through government seizures and recoveries from criminal cases, Fidelity’s Matt Hogan wrote in the report: “We expect 2025 to be the year this changes for both acceptance and adoption. This is to say, we anticipate more nation-states, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and government treasuries will look to establish strategic positions in bitcoin.”

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted a “Trump bull market” in a Jan. 5 post on X in which he said the company signed more deals in the six weeks after the election than it signed in the previous six months.

“2025 is here and the Trump bull market is real,” Garlinghouse wrote.