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Bitcoin Hits Major Milestone of $100K, Nears $2 Trillion Market Value
The early November election of crypto-friendly Donald Trump restarted what had been a stalled rally through much of 2024.
Updated Dec 5, 2024, 3:12 a.m. Published Dec 5, 2024, 2:46 a.m.
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What to know:
- The price of bitcoin has risen above $100,000 for the first time.
- The highly successful introduction of U.S.-based spot ETFs combined with the election of Donald Trump to spearhead the rally.
- Corporate adoption also played a role, with a growing number of companies following MicroStrategy's lead in accumulating bitcoin.
Bitcoin's price has surged past the $100,000 mark for the first time in its history, fueled by institutional demand, corporate accumulation and heightened expectations of crypto-friendly policies under Donald Trump's presidency.
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Now ahead about 130% year-to-date, bitcoin's market capitalization has risen to just shy of $2 trillion only 15 years after coming into existence. For reference, Nvidia and Apple sport market caps of about $3.5 trillion, Microsoft $3 trillion, and Google and Amazon $2.2 trillion. The market capitalization of all the gold in the world is roughly $17.7 trillion.
At the forefront of this rally was the early-2024 launch of spot-based bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) by asset management giants including BlackRock and Fidelity. These products have been a resounding success, securing assets under management of around $30 billion in less than one year's time.
Despite the success of the ETFs, the move higher in bitcoin seemingly stalled throughout a large chunk of this year, at least in part thanks to regulatory uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election. The early November victory of crypto-friendly Donald Trump, though, spurred new legs for the rally, with bitcoin quickly taking out its March high above $73,500, then in fast time moving past $80,000, then $90,000, and finally $100,000 just minutes ago.
Read more: Crypto Foe and SEC Chair Gary Gensler Will Quit When Trump Takes Office
Corporate adoption
Another large part of the bull story is growing corporate adoption, led by MicroStrategy (MSTR) and its Executive Chairman Michael Saylor. The company — which began its bitcoin purchases in August 2020 — has continued to raise billions of dollars to deploy into bitcoin, taking its holdings to 386,700 tokens which are now worth more than $38 billion. Saylor and team have inspired other publicly traded companies, U.S.-listed Semler Scientific and Japan-listed Metaplanet among them, to pursue similar strategies. Even tech giant Microsoft has a proposal before its board as to whether it should pursue a bitcoin treasury strategy.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Bitcoin’s weakness versus gold and equities puts quantum computing fears back in focus
Some investors have revived concerns that quantum computing could threaten bitcoin, but analysts and developers say recent price weakness reflects market structure.
Was Sie wissen sollten:
- Bitcoin’s recent price stagnation has sparked a renewed debate over quantum-computing risks, with investor Nic Carter arguing that quantum fears are already shaping market behavior.
- On-chain analysts and prominent investors counter that the slowdown is better explained by large holders taking profits and increased supply hitting the market around the $100,000 level.
- Most bitcoin developers still view quantum attacks as a distant, manageable threat, noting that proposed upgrades like BIP-360 provide a path to quantum-resistant security and are unlikely to explain short-term price moves.
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