(Reuters)
Bitcoin hit a record high above $106,000 on Monday after President-elect Donald Trump suggested he plans to create a US bitcoin strategic reserve similar to its strategic oil reserve, stoking the enthusiasm of crypto bulls.
Bitcoin, the world's biggest and best known cryptocurrency, hit a high of $106,533 and last traded up 2.6 percent at $103,917 at 1215 GMT. Smaller crypto ether was up 0.4 percent at $3,918.
"We're in blue sky territory here," said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG. "The next figure the market will be looking for is $110,000. The pullback that a lot of people were waiting for just didn't happen, because now we've got this news."
Investor sentiment also got a lift from the inclusion of MicroStrategy into the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index that will likely lead to more inflows for the software firm turned bitcoin buyer.
Bitcoin and crypto have been catapulted into the spotlight as investors wager the incoming Trump administration will usher in a friendlier regulatory environment, boosting sentiment around the alternate currency. Bitcoin is up 192 percent for the year.
"We're gonna do something great with crypto because we want to be the head," Trump told CNBC late last week.
When asked if he plans to build a crypto reserve similar to oil reserves, Trump said: "Yeah, I think so."
Governments around the world held 2.2 percent of bitcoin's total supply as of July, according to data provider CoinGecko, with the United States possessing nearly 200,000 bitcoins valued at more than $20 billion at current levels.
China, UK, Bhutan and El Salvador are the other countries with a significant amount of bitcoins, data site BitcoinTreasuries showed.
Other countries have also been considering cryptocurrency strategic reserves.
CRYPTO BOOST
Bitcoin has surged more than 50 percent since the November 5 election that saw Trump elected along with many other pro-crypto candidates. The total value of the cryptocurrency market has almost doubled over the year so far to hit a record over $3.8 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet."
Trump this month named a White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, former PayPal executive David Sacks, a close friend of Trump adviser and megadonor Elon Musk.
Trump also said he would nominate pro-crypto Washington attorney Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Friday, exchange operator Nasdaq said MicroStrategy, led by chief executive Michael Saylor, will be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index, with the change coming into effect before the market opens on December 23.
MicroStrategy, an aggressive investor in the world's largest crypto asset, has seen its shares soar more than six-fold this year, taking its market value to almost $94 billion. It is now the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.