Sawt Falasteen - Bitcoin hits record above $109,000 awaiting Trump 

Bitcoin surged to an all-time peak of $109,241 ahead of Trump's inauguration ceremony, before falling back to around $107,500.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency has soared since Trump won the presidential election in November, with bitcoin surpassing $100,000 for the first time in early December.

It came after he nominated cryptocurrency backer Paul Atkins to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism that the new president will deregulate the sector.

Despite having once branded cryptocurrencies a "scam", Trump changed his stance and was a major advocate of them during his election campaign.

When bitcoin reached the landmark $100,000 level, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU'RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!"

- $TRUMP -

Over the weekend, Trump launched his own cryptocurrency, a so-called meme coin appropriately called $TRUMP, sparking feverish buying that sent its market capitalisation soaring to several billion dollars.

"Beyond that optimism, Trump policies are expected to be a double-edged sword," Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said on Monday.

"His pro-growth policies and deregulation are expected to benefit the US economy but his tariff policies will certainly lead inflation higher."

The $TRUMP meme coin, which is designed to capitalise on the popularity of a personality, movement or viral internet trend, was unveiled by the president-elect in a post on his Truth Social platform and X -- owned by fellow crypto enthusiast Elon Musk.

Cryptocurrencies have made headlines since their creation, from their extreme volatility to the collapse of several industry giants, foremost among them the FTX exchange platform.

Bitcoin was conceived in 2008 by a person or group writing under the name Satoshi Nakamoto.

It was pitched as a way to break free of mainstream financial institutions by establishing a decentralised platform for transactions.

The digital currency is created -- or "mined" -- as a reward when powerful computers solve complex problems to validate transactions made on a meddle-proof register known as the blockchain.

Bitcoin has long been criticised for being the currency of choice for making untraceable payments on the so-called dark web, a hidden part of the internet used for criminal activities.

The asset has also come under attack for facilitating money laundering and allowing extortion through ransomware attacks.

Its carbon footprint has also come under scrutiny because mining cryptocurrencies requires huge amounts of energy.

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B.Mahmoud--SF-PST