Gold and Bitcoin jumps after Trump win; investors seek safe assets
Digital currency joins gold surge as bitcoin price climbs nearly 4% after Trump win
Trump’s shock election wins sent shock-waves across the world’s financial markets. As uncertainty reigned supreme, investors turned away from equities and towards bitcoin.
Joining the upward trajectory seen by gold post-Trump win, the Bitcoin price has surged almost 4% as investors look outside of stocks and bonds to seek a safe haven in other assets.
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US Presidential Election shocked the world over and, in scenes echoing the post-Brexit financial fall-out, saw the dollar plunge and billions wiped off the leading market exchanges across the world.
However, like gold which is seen as a solid bet in times of uncertainty and market volatility, Bitcoin reached a recent high of $738 after climbing steadily throughout election night.
Now a single Bitcoin, according to Bitstamp, is trading at £737.07, which is a 3% increase from the $708 value of bitcoin before the election.
The surge in Bitcoin price is somewhat of a reversal of what was seen after the UK voted leave in the EU Referendum. The Brexit vote saw more than $100 wiped off the price of bitcoin.
This latest surge in bitcoin pricewill buoy bitcoin traders who recently saw prices fall by up to 20% following a major hack.
Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange, suffered a security breach which led to the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoin worth around £49 million.
The breach was investigated and all transactions on the virtual exchange were suspended, having a significant impact on the price of the cryptocurrency.
The bitcoin market is also being threatened by the development of cryptocurrencies by banks and big corporates. Using blockchain, the technology which underpins bitcoin, organisations are turning away from bitcoin and looking at ways to create their own cryptocurrencies. Microsoft, for example, stopped accepting bitcoin in its Store, yet has created a blockchain-as-a-Service offering in Azure.
Source: CBR – Digital currency joins gold surge as bitcoin price climbs nearly 4% after Trump win
