BTC's $100,000 is just the beginning.
Written by: Tuo Luo Finance
Bitcoin has finally broken through $100,000.
After experiencing two weeks of pullback and fluctuations, Bitcoin has returned to its peak today, surging from $98,000 to break through $100,000, officially starting a new journey into six figures. As of the time of writing, Bitcoin is reported at $102,649, up over 6.29% for the day. Ethereum is also not to be outdone, successfully standing above $3,900, currently reported at $3,917.42, with a daily increase of 5.77%.
With the psychological barrier broken, market volatility is also intensifying. According to Coinglass data, as of the time of writing, 213,167 people were liquidated within 24 hours, with a total liquidation amount of $677.43 million, including $369 million in long positions and $308 million in short positions.
From a news perspective, the nomination of the new SEC chairman has released more positive sentiment. According to Jin Shi, U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that he has officially nominated Paul Atkins to serve as the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Compared to the previous iron-fisted leader Gary Gensler, Atkins has a much friendlier attitude towards crypto. From his resume, Paul Atkins graduated from Wofford College, joined the New York City law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell after graduation, and officially joined the SEC in 1990, becoming known for opposing "high fines for companies violating securities laws."
During his tenure, Atkins focused on seeking a balance between promoting innovation and strengthening investor protection, assisting the SEC chairman in formulating several key regulations. In the digital asset space, since 2017, he has also served as co-chair of the industry association Token Alliance, which advocates for the digital asset and blockchain industry. Atkins has repeatedly supported the crypto industry, stating that the SEC's enforcement actions have stifled the development of the U.S. crypto industry and calling for reduced regulation of cryptocurrencies. More importantly, Paul Atkins is also the official advisor for the RSR token.
It is clear that the newly appointed chairman has ample experience in regulatory construction and has a positive attitude towards digital assets, which could help build a more clear and inclusive regulatory framework for digital assets. In the announcement of his appointment, Trump praised him, stating, "Paul Atkins firmly believes that a robust and innovative capital market can meet the needs of investors and provide funding to make our economy the best in the world. He also recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to making America strong."
Just yesterday, there was a mix-up in the market regarding whether Paul Atkins could be appointed as SEC chairman, with tokens racing ahead and false news circulating, causing Bitcoin to experience a rollercoaster ride. Of course, Paul Atkins is currently only nominated and still needs to be confirmed by the Senate, and his own willingness will also determine who ultimately occupies this valuable regulatory seat.
For the market, what is more important than who the SEC chairman is, is the visible arrival of a new era of crypto, the initial emergence of the regulatory framework promised by Trump. Whether from an emotional or factual perspective, this is a key boost.
Returning to Bitcoin itself, from the moment in 2010 when Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 Bitcoins to buy pizza, giving Bitcoin a real price scale, to now when Bitcoin has broken through six figures, 16 years have passed.
As this now exorbitantly priced pizza fades into dust, Bitcoin, once ridiculed and mocked by the mainstream as a "Ponzi scheme," or objectively referred to as a "financial experiment," has become one of the most successful investment products over the past 16 years, creating an unimaginable growth miracle. Based on the price of Bitcoin pizza, BTC has already increased by 40 million times, and just this year, BTC's increase has reached 135%. Currently, the total value of all circulating Bitcoins is $2 trillion, surpassing the total value of Mastercard, Walmart, and JPMorgan. In the global asset ranking on Companies marketcap, Bitcoin's market value has already surpassed silver, ranking 7th among global assets.
This social experiment is undoubtedly a success. While it may be too early to talk about surpassing sovereign currencies, it is undoubtedly a comprehensive victory for decentralized currency from the bottom up, a collective victory of participants made up of geeks and grassroots. In the not too long 16 years, Bitcoin has gradually distanced itself from the stigma of money laundering and fraud, moving from digital gold towards becoming a super-sovereign currency, deriving a new financial system that is more autonomous, faster, and more transparent at the center of the crypto world, with Web3 rapidly evolving to carry the transformation of traditional financial infrastructure.
If viewed solely from an asset perspective, a $10,000 Bitcoin and a $100,000 Bitcoin imply vastly different meanings. A $10,000 Bitcoin can be seen as a product of a small circle's self-indulgence, a dreamer's fantasy, but when a $100,000 Bitcoin appears, the mainstream world inevitably focuses its attention here, and a new era of digital assets is slowly unfolding.
Good assets are always bought more as they fall, but with Bitcoin, the main theme is to buy more as it rises; the price is what truly allows it to be recognized as a good asset. Bitcoin broke through $10,000, attracting Grayscale's entry; Bitcoin broke through $50,000, and MicroStrategy came rushing in; when Bitcoin broke through $60,000, global institutions like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin began to enter the market; when Bitcoin surpassed $100,000, the nature of super-sovereign currency became prominent, and national reserves may become a reality.
Just yesterday, Putin spoke at an investment forum in Moscow, advocating for BTC to be used as a global reserve asset instead of the dollar, with the core reason being "no one can ban BTC."
It is foreseeable that Bitcoin's next steps will include purchases by listed companies, traditional institutions entering the market, and the establishment of national reserves, while user adoption will be an inevitable path for Bitcoin.
In terms of numbers, the number of users in the crypto market is still astonishingly low. According to estimates by a16z, there are currently about 30 million to 60 million active cryptocurrency users globally each month, but it is these tens of millions of crypto users that have created a $3 trillion crypto empire. If we consider the global population of 5.4 billion internet users, the potential behind this is self-evident.
From the perspective of national reserves, currently, due to the protection of sovereign currencies and financial security considerations, the vast majority of mainstream regions have strict purchasing conditions for cryptocurrencies, with only third-world countries suffering from inflation viewing Bitcoin as an alternative currency. If the U.S. includes it in its national reserves, when 1 million Bitcoins enter Congress, the international imagination of Bitcoin may truly be unleashed.
As of now, Bitcoin is still over 7 times away from gold's $15 trillion market value, but the growth miracle over the past 16 years has made this growth target seem within reach. $100,000 may indeed just be the beginning.
Even Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently stated that Bitcoin is not a competitor to the dollar but rather a competitor to gold, and it is not yet widely used as a means of payment, with significant price volatility, and individuals are not allowed to hold it due to identity reasons.
From a developmental path perspective, a small step for Bitcoin is a giant leap for crypto. Mainstreaming is not merely a symbolic representation of Bitcoin; as a result, crypto participants who once hid in the shadows can now proudly step forward as value investors. Altcoins have also successfully opened new pathways.
Currently, there are 16 new crypto ETFs that have officially submitted applications to the SEC, with Grayscale and Bitwise launching a package of cryptocurrency indices, while institutions like VanEck, 21Shares, Canary, and WisdomTree are targeting altcoin ETFs, with Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and HBAR officially becoming participants in the ETFs. On January 25, many ETFs will face their first concentrated review period.
Regardless of whether they are approved, thanks to the soon-to-be-appointed SEC chairman and institutional endorsements, the long-awaited altcoin season has finally arrived after nearly three years of continuous disproof.
From market performance, contrary to the principle of favoring new coins over old ones in the crypto circle, traders in this bull market have finally begun to reminisce. With Ethereum successfully breaking through $3,800, SOL and BNB have consecutively set new highs, and TRON has broken a seven-year record since January 2018, surging 69% in a single day.
Previously listed by Forbes as large-cap zombie coins have suddenly been revitalized. XRP surged from $0.5 on November 5 to $2.7, peaking at $2.8, soaring 500% within the month, and rising 53.70% in the past week. ALGO and XLM skyrocketed fourfold within 30 days, and even the long-silent ADA and EOS have risen over 200% in 30 days.
The rise in coin prices has pushed the market's emotional symphony to a climax, accelerating the mainstreaming process of crypto assets, and value recognition is beginning to grow. And all of this is based on Bitcoin's achievements.
It must be acknowledged that Bitcoin also has its limitations.
Although Bitcoin, born out of a currency crisis, has begun to be viewed as a sovereign currency by some countries, it is still far from being a currency that truly achieves price scale and means of circulation. The title of digital gold has also made Bitcoin more of an anti-inflation investment rather than a stable trading currency.
The decentralized values of the crypto world are also inevitably impacted, with the side effects of mainstreaming—the dollarization trend of crypto assets becoming increasingly evident. In comparison to Bitcoin, the total net asset value of the 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. is $108.23 billion, accounting for 5.54% of Bitcoin's market value. From a national perspective, the U.S. holds over 210,000 Bitcoins, making it one of the largest holders of Bitcoin globally.
In this context, the decisive role of the U.S. in the crypto field is irreplaceable, and Wall Street institutions have successfully replaced retail investors as the carriers and takers of value, making core assets increasingly distant from ordinary people, which has become an inevitable trend.
But fortunately, the public fruits borne from private desires are still spreading. The imaginative economy represented by cryptocurrencies continues to soar, and the opportunities for young people to turn their fortunes around have not yet dissipated. The hope for freedom, wrapped in dreams of wealth, shines brightly in today's society of refined division and solidified classes, attracting many newcomers from Generation Z.
All of these creators are the countless crypto practitioners. Today, many practitioners have shared the "huge sums" they once spent on goods: a computer for 245 BTC, headphones for 67 BTC, hamburgers for 30 BTC. In the jest of "the most expensive in history," everyone knows that without the hard work of these practitioners, the crypto world might not have persisted to this day.
A new dawn for crypto assets is coming soon, and in this victory for the entire crypto community, every participant should receive the gift of time for their perseverance.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
