Key events
Introduction: Bitcoin breaks $81,000 for first time on Trump trades; UK government sells £1bn of NatWest shares
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Bitcoin has soared to a new record high of more than $81,000, following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election last week and the election of some pro-crypto candidates to Congress.
The world’s best-known cryptocurrency has more than doubled since its low of $38,505 in January. It touched a record high of $81,899 and is now trading at $81,024, up 5.9% on the day.
Trump promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” on the campaign trail and to create a strategic stockpile of bitcoin. He also said he would appoint financial regulators that favour digital assets, and sack the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler. Gensler has led the regulator’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
Other so-called ‘Trump trades’ – from US stocks to shorting bonds – have lost some steam since the election, but cryptocurrencies are still powering ahead.
However, one analyst told Reuters that while bitcoin’s rise is fuelled on hopes for reduced regulation of cryptocurrencies, Trump’s focus on other issues could mean he does not do much on crypto initially.
Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index, also said:
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 are betting on digital-currency deregulation.
NatWest has bought back shares worth £1bn from the UK government, taking a further step towards full private ownership following the bank’s bailout during the financial crisis.
In the summer, the government ditched a plan to sell shares to retail investors.
The government and NatWest said this morning that the Treasury’s shareholding will drop from 14.2% to 11.4%, after selling shares for nearly £3.81, the bank’s closing price on Friday.
The sale means the government has now recouped more than £20bn from the sale of shares held since a 2008 bailout during the financial crisis, when the Treasury stepped in to prevent the bank, then called Royal Bank of Scotland, from going under.
The Agenda
