Bitcoin cracks $100,000 mark for first time

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens and Sebastian Derbomez, Manager Brand Advocacy USA at William Grant & Sons, discuss why Bitcoin continues to boom.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:03Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:05One day after the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all closed at record highs, investors are

00:11wondering how much higher stocks can go without a correction.

00:15Meanwhile, investors are digesting a bigger-than-expected rise in weekly jobless claims.

00:20Applications for unemployment benefits rose to 224,000 for the week ending November 30.

00:26Any sign of labor market weakness is seen as bolstering hopes for a December interest

00:30rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

00:33In other news, Bitcoin is trading above $100,000 for the first time ever.

00:39The cryptocurrency broke the psychologically important milestone on Wednesday thanks to

00:44Donald Trump's latest administration pick.

00:47Paul Atkins has been tapped to take over the Securities and Exchange Commission from outgoing

00:51SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

00:54While Gensler was seen as a restricting force in the crypto world, Atkins is expected to

00:59be quite the opposite.

01:01Atkins is already on record as a crypto believer who thinks there should be clear regulations

01:07that don't tie the industry's hands or engage in meddling oversight.

01:12The crypto industry is basking in its glory of sorts.

01:15In the past election, it backed crypto-friendly candidates, including Donald Trump, with major

01:20donations.

01:21$131 million flowed to SuperPACs, which then deployed that money to push crypto-backing

01:27politicians.

01:28In addition, millions of dollars in crypto donations went directly to Trump's campaign

01:33coffers.

01:34Now with Trump headed to the White House and a friend likely headed to leave the SEC, crypto

01:39investors are giddy.

01:40Bitcoin is up 130% year-to-date.

01:44Last year this time, it was trading only at $44,000.

01:49That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:52I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.