Investing.com– Bitcoin fell on Thursday after a brief rally on hype surrounding President Donald Trump’s more cryptocurrency-friendly policies, with his recently launched memecoin also posting heavy losses.
Cryptocurrency markets received a short-lived boost from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which, under new leadership, said it would form a task force to help advise on crypto regulation.
Markets remained unsettled as Trump did not sign any crypto-related executive orders in his first few days in office, despite several industry participants hoping for such a move.
The launch , which has seen wild price swings since its debut, has also added to additional volatility in markets, while hype around artificial intelligence has made risk-averse traders more biased towards equity markets.
down 2.9% to $102,600.2 by 00:54 ET (05:54 GMT). The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly hit a record high above $109,000 before Trump’s inauguration this week, but has since seen a steep decline.
Bitcoin falls as Trump stimulus fades
Bitcoin largely failed to hold on to its gains this week, as optimism about crypto-friendly policies under Trump appeared to be short-lived.
While the SEC announcement heralds some progress toward more favorable regulation, the Commission provided few details about what policies its task force will cover. The SEC also did not provide a timeline for the new regulation.
A major sticking point for crypto markets has also been Trump’s failure to sign crypto-related executive orders, while his threats of tariffs on major economies have dampened risk appetite.
Trump’s memecoin – $TRUMP – slid 13.7% to $37,413 on Thursday, slipping further from the record high of nearly $80 hit shortly after launch. The token has raised concerns about the ethics of Trump’s use of his influence to increase his personal wealth.
The president was seen largely avoiding questions about the billions of dollars in paper profits he likely made from $TRUMP.
Blackrock’s Fink Sees Bitcoin at $700,000
BlackRock (NYSE: ) CEO Larry Fink made positive comments about Bitcoin, saying he believes the cryptocurrency’s price could rise to $700,000 if more people embrace it amid concerns about the economic and political stability of their countries.
Fink told Bloomberg that he believes in using Bitcoin as an international instrument, although he clarified that he is not promoting crypto.
Last year, BlackRock launched an exchange-traded fund that tracked the spot price of Bitcoin – the iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: ). The launch initially attracted a flood of capital flows in early 2024, although the inflow has since stalled.
Crypto Price Today: Altcoins Follow Bitcoin’s Losses
Broader cryptocurrency prices fell in tandem with Bitcoin. The world’s No. 2 cryptocurrency fell 3% to $3,216.16, while it fell 0.7% to $3.1404.
and sank between 2% and 4%, while among meme tokens it lost 3.8%.
