The oldest and most famous cryptocurrency in the world is chasing record after record: at the end of last week, Bitcoin rose in price by a record and reached the highest level in its history - $ 111,888 on the Bitstamp platform. Experts believe that US President Donald Trump is behind this boom.
Unprecedented crypto boom under Trump
And indeed: Bitcoin began to rise rapidly in price since Trump was elected head of state in November 2024. Since then, this cryptocurrency has risen in price by about 60%. During his election campaign, the Republican announced that he would promote cryptocurrencies, remove regulatory obstacles, and even create a national reserve for Bitcoin.
A bill to ease crypto regulation in the US is currently being discussed in the US Senate. The prospect of a more liberal environment for crypto and blockchain projects is fueling optimism in the markets and stimulating demand for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In May alone, over four billion dollars have been inflows into index funds, indicating increasing acceptance of Bitcoin among institutional investors, ARD points out.
Trump as a risk for Bitcoin?
However, Trump has recently also proven to be a major risk factor for Bitcoin. In April, the escalation of tariffs triggered by Trump lowered the price of Bitcoin at times to around $74,000. The current progress in negotiations with Beijing, however, has largely removed this uncertainty and has even sparked additional interest in buying bitcoin.
Some market observers criticize Trump's drive to reduce regulatory barriers to cryptocurrencies, as this could potentially lead to an increase in fraud cases. By doing so, Trump would be doing the industry a disservice, as this could scare away investors, ARD emphasizes.
Trump has a vested interest
Furthermore, there are doubts that Trump is pushing for deregulation of crypto markets for his own personal enrichment. In this regard, the German public media recalls that the Republican billionaire launched the crypto project World Liberty Financial and launched his personal meme cryptocurrency $TRUMP. Last week, he hosted a gala dinner for 220 of the top $TRUMP investors at his Virginia golf club, and the top 25 also attended a VIP reception with the president. Since the dinner was announced in April, investors have poured more than $140 million into Trump's crypto project, resulting in significant profits for the president's family and associates, ARD reports.
Bitcoin as an alternative to gold?
Meanwhile, the recent downgrade of the US credit rating by Moody's is likely more of an unintended consequence of Trump's policies. The tarnished image of the dollar as the world's traditional reserve currency, as well as that of US Treasury bonds as a safe haven, is prompting many investors to look for alternatives - and some of them are apparently turning to Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency is even seen by some market observers as the digital equivalent of gold.
The next target - $120,000 for Bitcoin?
The big question now is: how much more can the price of Bitcoin rise? Many experts believe that the maximum has not yet been reached. In this regard, ARD quotes analyst Timo Emden, according to whom $120,000 is the next level, which can be reached "in the coming weeks".
Edward Carroll of MHC Digital Group predicts a Bitcoin price of $160,000 by the end of 2025, and even $1 million by 2030. However, it is unclear what role Trump will play for crypto markets in the future: as a catalyst in the short term or rather a risk factor in the long term.
In any case, crypto market investors should continue to expect high volatility, the German public media outlet ARD also points out.
Author: Angela Göpfert (ARD)