Pakinomist– Bitcoin fell on Thursday after a short-lived rally on hype over more crypto-friendly policies from President Donald Trump, with his newly launched memecoin also clocking steep losses.
Cryptocurrency markets received fleeting support from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which under new leadership said it will form a task force to help advise on crypto regulation.
Markets were left shorthanded as Trump did not sign any orders related to crypto in his first few days in office, despite several industry participants hoping for such a move.
The launch of which has seen wild price swings since its debut also contributed to further volatility in the markets, while the hype over artificial intelligence caused risk-averse traders to turn more towards equity markets.
fell 2.9% to $102,600.2 by 00:54 ET (05:54 GMT). The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly hit a record high above $109,000 before Trump’s inauguration this week, but has since recorded steep declines.
Bitcoin falls as Trump boost fades
Bitcoin largely failed to hold on to its gains this week as optimism over crypto-friendly policies under Trump appeared to be short-lived.
While the SEC announcement heralds some progress toward friendlier regulation, the commission provided few details about what policies will be covered by its task force. The SEC also did not provide a timeline for new regulation.
A major bone of contention for crypto markets was also Trump not signing any crypto-related executive orders, while his threats of tariffs on major economies lowered risk appetite.
Trump’s memecoin – $TRUMP – fell 13.7% to $37,413 on Thursday, slipping further from record highs of nearly $80 hit just after launch. The token raised some concerns about Trump’s ethics in using his influence to advance his personal wealth.
The president was seen largely avoiding questions about the billions of dollars in paper gains he likely made from $TRUMP.
Blackrock’s Fink Sees Bitcoin at $700,000
BlackRock (NYSE: ) CEO Larry Fink offered some positive comments about Bitcoin, stating that he believed the crypto could rise to a price of $700,000 if more people adopted it due to concerns over the economic and political stability of their countries .
Fink told Bloomberg that he believed in the use of Bitcoin as an internationally based instrument, although he clarified that he was not promoting the crypto.
BlackRock had last year launched an exchange-traded fund that tracked the spot price of Bitcoin—iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: The launch had initially attracted a deluge of capital inflows in early 2024, although inflows have since declined.
Crypto Price Today: Altcoins Track Bitcoin Losses
Broader crypto prices fell in tandem with Bitcoin. The world’s No.2 crypto fell 3% to $3,216.16, while it fell 0.7% to $3.1404.
and fell between 2% and 4%, while among meme tokens lost 3.8%.
