Hi. Liam here.

Bitcoin hit a new all-time high on Wednesday, according to prices on top crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance.

It’s now trading at more than $109,000.

The last time the asset, which has a $2.1 trillion market value, traded near this altitude was just before the pro-crypto president took office in January.

The surge should cap an especially stormy period for Bitcoin. After US President Donald Trump hit dozens of nations, including Canada and Mexico, with steep tariffs in April, Bitcoin sank to $76,300.

In the last few weeks, the cryptocurrency reversed course and rebounded, according to CoinGecko.

The upshot of this white knuckle ride: crypto investors now have to watch Trump’s every move.

$200,000 in play?

Institutional investors are also increasingly buying digital assets as expectations mount for new exchange-traded funds pegged to Solana and XRP.

“While this cycle has certainly seen speculative hype around meme coins and celebrity tokens, drawing in retail traders, Bitcoin’s steady ascent has been driven by corporate, institutional, and even government adoption,” Ben Caselin, the chief marketing officer of crypto exchange VALR, told DL News.

Caselin joined Bernstein analysts in predicting that Bitcoin could hit $200,000 by the end of the year.

Trump’s tumultuous ride

In addition to his trade war, the president threatened to fire Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, and is seeking a massive tax cut that would decrease government revenue by $4.5 trillion and put further pressure on the dollar.

Indeed, last week Moody’s downgraded the US’s triple-A credit rating, and yields on Treasuries spiked in a sign investors are concerned about the fiscal health of the world’s biggest economy.

Yet some macro uncertainty has eased as Trump has retreated on his aggressive tariff policy, including a truce with China.

Other developments also spurred a rebound in Bitcoin in other cryptocurrencies.

Landmark legislation

The US Senate is moving swiftly to pass landmark legislation for issuers and managers of stablecoins. Other bills in the House of Representatives on stablecoins and market structure are also getting hearings.

Investors are also betting on at least one rate cut from the Fed by September, which tends to spur bullishness or risk-on assets like crypto and stocks.

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Extra Post of the Week

Redditors are back making fun of Jim Cramer. In the crypto community, it has become a popular passtime to ridicule the Mad Money host for his digital asset takes.

DL News is an independent news organisation that provides original, in-depth reporting on the largely misunderstood world of cryptocurrency and decentralised finance. From original stories to investigations, our journalism is accurate, honest and responsible.