Stock futures climb; global markets broadly gain.
Bitcoin spiked to a new all-time high early Monday but pulled back following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last lower by nearly 4% at $101,822.13, according to Coin Metrics, in what appeared to be a “buy the rumor sell the news” event. Overnight, it rose as high as $109,350.72.
Bitcoin gained steam last week as speculation started to build that Trump might announce an executive order on crypto early in his new term. Enthusiasts hope to see him create a crypto advisory council that would give the industry a voice within his administration and the establishment of a bitcoin stockpile or reserve.
Over the weekend, Trump launched the “Official Trump” meme coin, which on Monday morning had risen to a more than $10 billion market cap, according to CoinGecko. Returning First Lady Melania Trump launched her own “Melania” meme coin Sunday. They have attracted $31 billion and $7.2 billion in trading volumes, respectively, over the last day.
“Rumors that cryptocurrency may be declared a national interest by the United States during the inauguration are having a positive effect on the price of bitcoin,” Gracy Chen, CEO of crypto exchange Bitget, told CNBC. “I don’t believe the rise in bitcoin’s price is due to the launch of new meme tokens. Rather … without the release of the Trump family tokens, bitcoin’s price would have grown more. Instead, capital shifted to new coins, limiting overall growth.”
The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, fell 5% on Monday afternoon. Solana, down 11%, led the losses following a 14% rally over the weekend, benefitting from the Trump meme coin being launched on the popular Ethereum alternative network.
Meme coins are considered the riskiest corner of the already risky cryptocurrency market, but the Trumps’ coin launches over the weekend gave traders further conviction that the incoming administration will be positive for the industry, according to Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX.
Source: [CNBC]
