This is the golden age of bitcoin. You can thank Trump for that.
A likely reduction in regulatory protections could spell more volatility for the crypto industry.
November 20, 2024 at 6:33 p.m. EST
The Washington Post
The election is over, and bitcoin is on the march. A spasm of enthusiasm over the election of Donald Trump has sent the most popular cryptocurrency to within striking distance of $100,000 per coin for the first time.
Even the most strident critic of cryptocurrencies — I qualify, having written repeatedly why bitcoin and its even-less-savory ilk should scare the bejesus out of ordinary investors — must acknowledge that the landscape has changed. Under Trump, once a skeptic and now a booster of cryptocurrencies, the newfangled digital assets are poised to make another breakout run.
The reasons have everything to do with politics and hype, and nothing at all with any new rationale for the worth of cryptocurrencies. They have almost no value in the traditional sense of the word. Yet the prospect of severely diminished regulatory scrutiny under a second Trump term and renewed promotional activity by well-heeled backers promises to become a self-fulfilling prophecy for the collection of hucksters who fancy themselves the “crypto industry.”
Even after years of promises, there still are few legitimate uses for cryptocurrencies, no matter what crypto cheerleaders insist is an inflation hedge, a store of value, or a better form of international remittance. Or, as one wag put it to me: “No one has come up with a use case for owning bitcoin other than owning bitcoin.”
Continue here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/20/bitcoin-crypto-trump-lutnick/