Bitcoin and the crypto world are experiencing a historic moment. Bitcoin has risen above $100,000 for the first time. Thus, it has increased by around 40% since Trump was elected. The main issue that triggered this rally is President Donald Trump's new selection as the Chairman of the Capital Markets Board, Paul Atkins. Paul Atkins is a very serious crypto lover, he has crypto investments. He also had serious conflicts with the previous president regarding crypto. By the way, he is a former member of the Capital Markets Board. His election as a candidate created the perception that crypto would have a clearer future. We know that Donald Trump also presented himself as a serious crypto lover before the election. However, Paul Atkins' election as the Chairman of the Capital Markets Board is not the only issue that has stirred Bitcoin, there are other developments as well. Perhaps it shows us that the rally will have more serious legs ahead of us.
Bitcoin passing the $100,000 level is not just a number, a figure, it is a fundamental emotional change in the market's approach to bitcoin. Remember, bitcoin has no daily use, it is not a company, it has no production. So, in fact, the price increases or decreases with people's belief in this asset, and interestingly, when the price of something increases too much, people also increase their belief in it. In this context, I am sure that a bitcoin over $ 100,000 will attract the attention of the wider masses and make headlines. In this respect, it is not just a matter of numbers, it also means a big emotional break. At its peak, Bitcoin reached $ 103,853. It pulled back a little from there. At that peak, it means a 40% increase since the election. Again, Microstrategy will benefit greatly from the bitcoin rally in the near future. Investors have high hopes for crypto-friendly regulations that will come with the Trump administration. This is not Bitcoin's first big rally, it has seen big rallies before. It reached $ 20,000 in 2017 and $ 69,000 in 2021. But I think this rally is different from them. That is, there is a lot of institutional support behind it.
Institutional support comes from several places. One of them is of course Mikrostrategy, it has found a new model for itself, it goes and constantly gets loans. It buys crypto again with those loans. Apart from that, there are ETFs. Right now, the total number of bitcoins in the hands of ETFs has surpassed the bitcoins in the hands of Satoshi Nakamoto. Buying continues there as well and the latest data shows that especially after the last Trump election, large hedge funds have started to buy cryptos from Bitcoin ETFs. This is positive of course because previously, individual customers who were too lazy to keep a Bitcoin wallet or anything like that were just buying. Individual purchases only push Bitcoin up to a certain extent. The entrance of the beaches has also accelerated that side.
Apart from that, there are also developments on a country basis. For example, Bhutan is making Bitcoin reserves. There are similar things in El Salvador. In other words, these institutional purchases are changing the business a lot. These are very important, but the news of Paul Atkins being appointed as the chairman of the Capital Markets Board yesterday is the main reason that really drives crypto. Atkins is a very strong advocate of crypto and innovation. He has always opposed the use of Federal Securities laws as a weapon against the crypto sector. Atkins also fought the previous president on this issue. In fact, he was a commissioner of the Capital Markets Board during the George Bush era. In other words, he is someone who knows the inner workings of the institution. He argued that the penalties given to large companies were actually punishing shareholders at that time. He always has a stance in favor of shareholders and individual investors. He has been actively supporting the crypto sector since 2017 and he himself works in organizations such as the Chamber of Digital Commerce. He is someone who is very close to the digital world. His election made the markets very happy.
Another piece of good news for crypto came from Central Bank Chairman Powell on Wednesday. Powell said in an interview yesterday that bitcoin is not a rival to the dollar but to gold. It is similar to gold but digital. This is again a positive view on Bitcoin. I think we are basically giving up on the idea of bitcoin being the main currency in the world. We do not see much widespread use in that sense. Bitcoin has some unique difficulties and systems such as Bitcoin Lightning, which were developed on it, do not fully solve this issue. However, the issue of bitcoin being a store of value like gold is becoming more and more accepted. Powell also admitted this on Wednesday as a Federal Reserve chairman, which was also interesting news.
Of course, this also works for altcoins, Ethereum, Doge coin, XRP are all on the rise. Ethereum and Doge coin have reached all-time highs. Ripple (XRP) is one of the standouts despite the ongoing legal battle with the SEC. As you know, there was a possibility of winning the battle. When we look at Bitcoin and altcoins in the last 90 days, 75% of the 100 largest altcoins have outperformed Bitcoin. This also shows that the rally is expanding. Many people were excitedly waiting for the altcoin rally. We are also getting signs of it right now. By the way, of course, there will be those who will immediately remind me of what I said about Blackrock. I stand by what I said. Bitcoin is no longer a rebellion. Bitcoin emerged as a rebellion against centralized financial systems. It is no longer like that, it is directly becoming a part of the centralized financial system. We are glad that the American president is directly saying positive things about Bitcoin. This is actually an interesting situation in itself.
What created the recent rise of Bitcoin? The American government's approach to Bitcoin, the ETFs that the previous president, whom we criticized a lot, allowed to increase the market, Microstrategy's financing by the American financial system to buy Bitcoin. This is where the increases come from. In a tweet I read this week, there is a number that 97% of Bitcoin is held in 1.8% of total wallets. I'm not sure how accurate it is. But we also see that Bitcoin is increasingly becoming a centralized currency, especially in terms of who owns it. In other words, we are far from the dreams that Satoshi Nakamoto had. My criticism was in this direction anyway. I didn't say that the price of Bitcoin wouldn't go up. Unfortunately, it is also moving in this direction. But if you have Bitcoin in your hand right now and its price is going up, how nice.
Overcoming the legal obstacles to Bitcoin means that more and more centralized funds are buying Bitcoin. On the other hand, this also brings me the idea that there is an alternative and a need for Bitcoin. Because the reason why Bitcoin emerged is these centralized institutions. While these centralized institutions are buying Bitcoin right now, of course we are all very happy, and we are making good money. But they can sell them in the future, and now a large part of the power has completely passed into their hands. On the other hand, there is the idea of the United States of America creating a Bitcoin reserve. It is not very difficult for America to do this. It already has plenty of Bitcoin due to legal seizures. They can add a little bit to it. It is said that Trump has an intention on this issue. In other words, Bitcoin is now turning into one of the currencies of the American state.
Of course, if we look at the event from a slightly positive perspective, states and large institutions have realized that they cannot fight crypto and have started to cooperate with it. In this respect, of course, this has been very nice for those who have held Bitcoin for a long time. But Bitcoin is no longer what Satoshi Nakamoto dreamed of. Michael Saylor has an important statement here from Microstrategy. He says that when I die, the keys to the Bitcoins in my hand will also be burned. Thus, he says he will withdraw roughly 1 million Bitcoins from the market, he has such an intention. He is thinking of advancing up to 1 million Bitcoins. He says this will be his gift to humanity. I hope everyone thinks it happened like this. Otherwise, these big guys have gathered so much Bitcoin that if they start selling right now, just as it is currently increasing rapidly in purchases, it can also decrease crypto sharply in declines.
The news is extremely positive. On the other hand, of course, the risks are not over, there are still many ongoing lawsuits. The lawsuits filed against Coinbase and Ripple during the term of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Although, when the political structure changes, the probability of a negative decision in those lawsuits decreases. Those who do not like crypto are still in the majority in the American Congress and the House. Trump needs to fight to overcome these. But when we look at it in total, the probability of positive news flow being greater than negative in the coming period is really higher. Of course, this does not mean that crypto will not make sharp pullbacks. This is in the nature of crypto and we should always be prepared for this. So, on the one hand, it may be good to diversify your assets.
For example, when we look at Bitcoin, Bitcoin has risen very well since the beginning of this year. On the other hand, Nasdaq stocks have risen much faster than Bitcoin. Bitcoin has increased by around 30% from its previous peak of $69,000 to $100,000 in 2022, if I'm not mistaken. There are also Nasdaq technology stocks that have risen much higher than their peaks at that time. That's why it's also useful to diversify. But I always say that it's very, very useful to have at least one Bitcoin in your portfolio. Because if I remember correctly, if the world eventually accepts that this is digital gold, the global valuation of gold is around $16-17 trillion, Bitcoin has a long way to go, and factors such as Bitcoin being digital and being more accessible are actually stronger than gold.
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