Bitcoin hits an all-time high on Inauguration Day

Bitcoin rose to a record high on Monday, hours before Donald Trump took office as president of the United States.

During Monday Bitcoin peaked at $109,350 before falling below $105,000.

President Trump has spoken about cryptocurrency numerous times in the run-up to his new office. Bitcoin began gaining momentum in the week before the inauguration, with speculation mounting that Trump would announce a Bitcoin-related executive order.

According to reportsTrump plans to reduce regulations around cryptocurrency, something that could boost adoption.

The spike in Bitcoin price also occurred after the Trumps launched two new meme coins – simply called $TRUMP and $MELANIA. Trump’s coin launched on Friday, January 17, and Melania’s coin followed a few days later. Both are based on the Solana blockchain.

Meme coins are essentially cryptocurrencies based on some aspect of internet culture. They are not really thought to have any intrinsic value, but they can be bought and sold, and their costs can rise or fall.

The most famous meme coin is Dogecoin (DOGE), which was essentially created as a joke but is heavily promoted by Elon Musk. Dogecoin is also on the rise and is at $0.36 at the time of writing – although it is still only just over half the value of its all-time high of $0.64, which it reached in May 2021, shortly after the GameStop squeeze.

As for Bitcoin, we will have to wait and see if the rally continues, or if the coin recovers after the last surge.