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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) surged above $109,200 to hit a new high on Wednesday, driven by bullish momentum and a strengthening regulatory outlook for crypto.
The token has jumped more than 40% since falling to around $76,000 in early April as the broader market rebounded after President Trump partially rolled back his tariff policy.
"I think the market is now in default buy the dip mode, whereas a couple of months ago, the market was certainly in sell the rip mode," Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, said in a client note on Monday.
Bitcoin's record comes on the heels of a key procedural victory in the Senate on Monday night for a bill to regulate stablecoins — cryptocurrencies tied to assets like the US dollar. The measure could face a final vote as early as this week.
"The stablecoin bill is important because it serves as a good barometer for broader legislative progress in crypto," Farrell noted, adding that its passage could increase the odds of additional legislation covering altcoins and even the formation of a strategic bitcoin reserve.
Bitcoin has rallied since President Trump won the White House and put in place key figures to forge ahead with a token-friendly framework, a promise on which he campaigned.
One of those moves included placing cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins as SEC chair following Gary Gensler’s departure in January.
"All of a sudden, an industry that was hated for four years has an SEC chair who is pro-crypto," Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings, a cryptocurrency investment firm, told Yahoo Finance last week. "They're embracing us instead of chasing and prosecuting us. Now we're getting legislation — it's a huge tailwind for the industry."
Adding to the momentum, Coinbase (COIN) on Monday became the first and only cryptocurrency exchange to join the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) index — a symbolic milestone for the industry.
In another sign of crypto's growing institutional foothold, corporations are increasingly adding bitcoin to their balance sheets, following the lead of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin.
"Globally, ~80 corporates have adopted the 'Bitcoin Standard,' adding BTC to their treasuries and now holding approximately 3.4% of total supply," Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote in a recent note.
That amounts to roughly 720,000 tokens — up 160% from the 270,000 held at the end of 2023. Bernstein forecasts bitcoin will reach $200,000 by year-end.
