Bitcoin climbs above $101k mark

WEB DESK: Bitcoin opened in green on Friday, as the largest cryptocurrency surpassed the $100,000 mark within the first 15 minutes of trading.

At around 00:19 UTC, Bitcoin was recorded at $100,325.10, showing a rise of $1,048.08 compared to its previous close of $99,995.82 on the prior trading day.

Bitcoin experienced a sudden jump after 01:17 UTC, when it was at $100,086.50. It then surged directly to $101,667.60 by 02:01 UTC, increasing by $1,671.78. BTC continued to gain, rising by $1,960.68 to reach $101,956.50 by 02:00 UTC.

During this time, Ether (ETH) was up by 2.83 per cent to $3,359.37, Litecoin (LTC) surged by 30.46 per cent to $133.55, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 14.71 per cent to $0.39, and Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 2.98 per cent to $713.98.

It is worth mentioning that Bitcoin is currently witnessing a five-day high. On January 13, Bitcoin had fallen as low as $90,806.33 around 12:30 UTC.

Comparing it with its current price, Bitcoin is now over 12 per cent higher, showing a gain of more than $11,000 between January 13, 12:30 UTC, and January 17, 02:30 UTC.

Top Republican officials at the US Securities and Exchange Commission are poised to begin overhauling the agency’s cryptocurrency policies potentially as early as next week when President-elect Donald Trump takes power, said three people briefed on the matter.

Among the measures commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda are weighing are initiating the process that would ultimately lead to guidance or rules clarifying when the agency considers a cryptocurrency to be a security, and reviewing some crypto enforcement cases pending in the courts, two of the people said.

Paul Atkins, Trump’s crypto-friendly pick for SEC chair and former agency commissioner, is widely expected to end a crypto crackdown led by President Biden’s Democratic SEC chair Gary Gensler, but it is unclear when the Senate will confirm him.

Gensler has said he will step down on Jan. 20 when Trump is sworn in.

As of next week, Peirce and Uyeda will hold the majority among the agency’s politically-appointed commissioners and are poised to get the ball rolling in the interim, the people said.

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