Bitcoin Surpasses $100,000 for the First Time

The price of one bitcoin reached $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday. Demand for the digital currency began to grow rapidly after the US presidential election, which was won by cryptocurrency candidates led by President-elect Trump, NBC News reports.

Trump has appointed cryptocurrency lobbyist Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, a sign that his administration will take a more friendly approach to digital assets, which have soared in value in recent years despite concerns about their financial risks.

As of 8 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, the cryptocurrency hit a new peak of $102,888 per bitcoin. In total, the price of bitcoin has risen by more than 45% since the election on 5 November, and has more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

Reaching a six-figure price is an important milestone for bitcoin. The digital currency was created in 2008 as lines of computer code with no physical form by a software developer under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity has not yet been confirmed.

The digital currency emerged 15 years ago, in 2008, as a line of computer code with no physical form, written by a still unknown author. The ideas outlined by the author, known as Satoshi Nakamoto, subsequently spawned an entire technological landscape dedicated to peer-to-peer transactions, which now includes hundreds of other digital tokens, as well as NFTs and trading platforms.

However, cryptocurrencies remain controversial, as many of them, including bitcoin itself, have contributed to the growth of cybercrime and fraud. According to the FBI, this caused billions of dollars in consumer losses last year.