News

(Bloomberg) -- Almost $10 billion has poured into US exchange-traded funds investing directly in Bitcoin since Donald Trump became president-elect, in a bet that his embrace of the crypto sector heralds a boom for the market.

The dozen funds from issuers including BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments have attracted about $9.9 billion of net inflows in the period following Election Day on Nov. 5, helping to lift the group’s total assets to approximately $113 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The president-elect last week picked a digital-asset supporter to be the next head of the US securities regulator and named the first-ever White House czar for artificial intelligence and crypto.

Trump has vowed to replace Biden administration skepticism about digital assets with supportive rules and even backed the idea of a strategic national Bitcoin reserve. The Republican used to be a crypto skeptic but pivoted as the industry unleashed an election campaign war chest to promote its interests.

Bitcoin topped $100,000 for the first time on Dec. 5 and traded at $98,860 as of 11:55 a.m. Monday in Singapore. The token’s six-week streak of gains through Sunday is the longest such run since the crypto frenzy of 2021.

Volatility swept across Bitcoin a day after the token achieved the landmark six-figure level. The swings briefly drove the largest digital asset down toward $92,000, a drop that sowed some caution over the immediate outlook.

A “sustained and decided” push past $100,000 may require further positive catalysts to materialize, David Lawant, head of research at crypto prime broker FalconX, wrote in a note.

US regulators have also permitted spot-Ether ETFs, a group of nine funds that lured almost $2 billion of net subscriptions in the wake of Trump’s election win. Ether, the second-ranked token, has outperformed Bitcoin of late.