Bitcoin hits new record as Trump takes oath… and the value of the president’s own digital token hits £12 billion

Bitcoin hit an all-time high yesterday as Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The cryptocurrency soared to a record $109,071 in the hours before he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

Trump and his wife Melania also launched their own ‘meme coins’ in a move that was seen as a further show of support for digital currencies. The value of the $200 million TRUMP coins in circulation soared to £12 billion before retreating.

The remaining 800 million coins will be issued over the next three years. At its peak, the billion coins were theoretically worth a total of £60 billion.

Meanwhile, the dollar fell sharply — sending the pound up more than 1 percent to above $1.23 — after an official said Trump would not impose new trade tariffs on his first day in office. post.

He has pledged to add a 10 percent tax on global imports, a 60 percent tax on Chinese goods and a 25 percent import surcharge on Canadian and Mexican goods.

U.S. markets were closed yesterday for Martin Luther King Day, the fourth time the civil rights activist’s annual commemoration coincides with a presidential inauguration. In London, the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip shares closed at a record high of 8,520.54.

Bitcoin has been boosted by Trump’s election victory after he promised to be a “crypto president.”

Despite a previous stance against cryptocurrencies, he became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as campaign donations. His family launched a cryptocurrency company called World

Liberty Financial during the race for the White House. And it has revealed plans to build a strategic bitcoin reserve in the US, launch a cryptocurrency advisory board and remove regulatory hurdles to bring the digital currency to the mainstream.

However, the plans are not set in stone and any hesitation could cause the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to plummet.

“As always, the devil will be in the details,” said Russ Mold, chief investment officer at investment platform AJ Bell.

Kathleen Brooks, head of research at online broker XTB, said: “Any delay could trigger a sharp sell-off in cryptocurrencies, which are notoriously volatile.”

Launched on Friday, the Trump meme coin, $TRUMP, soared from less than £8 on Saturday morning to £60.70 yesterday, to give it a value of £12 billion before giving up some of its gains. The First Lady also launched her own currency,

$MELANIA, which rose in price on Sunday to take its market capitalization to over £1 billion.

The inauguration triggered a “buying frenzy among cryptocurrency investors,” said Simon Peters, an analyst at trading platform eToro, adding: “Markets will now be watching how he implements his proposed pro-cryptocurrency policies.”

Mold said: ‘Pending more information on how Trump plans to achieve his political goals, certain investors have focused on the here and now, and that is a world in which the new president embraces cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has gone crazy after Trump launched his own cryptocurrency.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “There are expectations that cryptocurrencies will become more mainstreamed into the financial mainstream, with clearer rules on how individuals and companies can trade such assets.”

These are all high hopes, which just a few years ago seemed “pie in the sky,” but now seem much closer to reality, given that Trump has become a big cheerleader for cryptocurrencies.

But he warned that it “remains a very volatile asset and has a history of sharp declines after strong rises.”