Bitcoin reaches $100k milestone as Trump announces crypto-friendly SEC pick

Stephen Grootes gets comment from UJ crypto expert, Professor Steven Boykey Sidley.

The price of one bitcoin surged past $100 000 on Thursday, on the news that the US president-elect has nominated a cryptocurrency-friendly candidate for head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Bitcoin's been on a rally since Donald Trump's election as president, and the record price was reached when he announced crypto backer Paul Atkins as his pick to lead the US securities regulator.

Trump in fact took credit for the historic price surge, writing on Truth Social:

"CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!"

Stephen Grootes gets comment from crypto expert Steven Boykey Sidley, Professor of Practice at the Johannesburg Business School at UJ.

Asked about the difference between Atkins and Gary Gensler, SEC chair under the Democratic administration, Prof. Sidley says it's 'like oil and water'.

"Gensler took a wrecking ball through the crypto industry along with a great deal of support from people within the Biden administration, from the Feds and various others... "

"They did a great deal of damage; to the extent to which a bunch of American entrepreneurs, scientists, developers and mathematicians left the country to go and set up crypto companies in more friendly places like Switzerland and Dubai."

Steven Boykey Sidley, Professor of Practice - Johannesburg Business School, UJ

Sidley notes that Atkins has not only expressed his support for the crypto industry at large, but has been an adviser to many of those companies who've been damaged by Gensler.

Along with the Trump factor sparking the Bitcoin boom is what Sidley describes as a gradual realisation by both governments and companies around the world, that crypto has now become a safe asset.

To hear more from Prof. Sidley, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article