Bitcoin soared to a record high above $81,000 on Monday, based on expectations that cryptocurrencies would boom in a favorable regulatory environment following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and pro-crypto candidates to Congress.
The world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency has now more than doubled from the year's low of $38,505 and was last at $81,572, having touched a record high of $81,899.
Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the planet" and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.
Other so-called "Trump trades" – from U.S. stocks to shorting bonds have lost some steam since the election, but cryptocurrencies haven't paused for breath.
"Bitcoin's Trump-pump is alive and well ... with Republicans on the cusp of taking the house to confirm a red wave in Congress, it seems the crypto crowd is betting on digital-currency deregulation," said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index, referring to Republican control of both houses.
While Simpson warned that Trump's near-term priorities will likely lie elsewhere, crypto investors see an end to stepped-up scrutiny under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, whom Trump said he would fire.
The cryptocurrency industry spent more than $119 million backing pro-crypto congressional candidates and has, by and large, succeeded.
In Ohio, one of the crypto industry's biggest foes in Congress – Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown was ousted, while pro-crypto candidates from both the Democratic and Republican parties won in Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama and North Carolina.
Trump also unveiled a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September, and although details about the business have been scarce, investors have taken his personal interest in the sector as a friendly signal.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a major Trump ally, is also a proponent of cryptocurrencies.
Eric Trump, one of the president-elect's sons and executive vice president of his private conglomerate, The Trump Organization, is a keynote speaker at a Bitcoin conference in Abu Dhabi next month, according to the event organizers.
Gains in cryptocurrencies have been broad. Ether rose above $3,200 for the first time in over three months on Monday and was last fetching $3,192. Dogecoin, an alternative cryptocurrency that began as a satirical critique of the 2013 crypto frenzy, was at a three-year high.
