Bitcoin breaks $100,000

Bitcoin hits a record $103,800, stealing the spotlight from stock markets amid global crises.

LONDON:

Bitcoin burst past $100,000 for the first time on Thursday, taking the limelight away from stock markets that wavered as investors tracked political crises in France and South Korea. Bitcoin reached a high of $103,800.45 before dipping to just over $103,400.

Bitcoin is "stealing (the) stock market's spotlight", said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

The digital asset has now soared more than 50 percent since the election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to make the United States the "bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world".

"Bitcoin smashed through $100,000 as the Trump Trade powered on with force," noted Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell

The historic level was broken after Trump picked crypto proponent Paul Atkins to take over as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the markets regulator.