Bitcoin climbs above $105,000 on strategic reserve hopes

Bitcoin surged to a record high above $105,000 in early Asian trade on Monday, boosted by comments from President-elect Donald Trump that suggested he plans to create a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve similar to its strategic oil reserve.

Bitcoin hit a high of $105,142 and last traded at $104,609.

The price rose on news reports over the weekend that Trump would go ahead with a bitcoin strategic reserve fund, according to Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.

“We’re in blue sky territory here,” Sycamore said. “The next figure the market will be looking for is $110,000. The pullback that a lot of people were waiting for just didn’t happen, because now we’ve got this news.”

Bitcoin has surged more than 50% since the Nov. 5 election that saw Trump elected along with many other pro-crypto candidates.

“We’re gonna do something great with crypto because we don’t want China or anybody 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: “Yeah, I think so.” The cryptocurrency industry spent more than $119 million backing pro-crypto U.S. congressional candidates, hoping to boost those who would pass crypto-friendly bills to promote digital assets.

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.