Bitcoin at record highs, sets sights on $100,000

By Dhara Ranasinghe, Tom Westbrook and Hannah Lang

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Bitcoin touched a record high on Friday, with its sights set firmly on the $100,000 barrier, in a stellar rally for the cryptocurrency sparked by expectations of a more friendly regulatory environment under a Donald Trump administration.

It has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 45% since Trump's sweeping election victory on Nov. 5, when voters also elected a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers to Congress.

The cryptocurrency's gains, however, were more measured on Friday. After touching a fresh record high above $99,800, bitcoin pulled back a touch to trade up 1.33% on the day, around $99,383.

Still, the momentum for further gains appeared strong with bitcoin poised for a third straight week of plus-10% gains. It was also on track for its best monthly performance since February.

Its surge has made bitcoin one of the standout winners of so-called Trump trades - assets that are seen as winning or losing from the Republican president's policies.

The cryptocurrency also appears on the cusp of mainstream acceptance since its creation 16 years ago.

"The longer it survives it is taken more seriously, that's just the reality of things," said Shane Oliver, chief economist and head of investment strategy at AMP Sydney.

"As an economist and investor I find it very hard to value it ... it's anyone's guess. But it does have a momentum aspect to it and at the moment the momentum is up."

Indeed, bitcoin is up around 130% this year.

Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet" and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.

Crypto investors see an end to increased scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after Chair Gary Gensler said on Thursday he would step down in January when Trump takes office.

Under Gensler, the SEC sued exchange Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and others, alleging that their failure to register with the agency violated SEC rules, accusations the companies deny and are fighting in court.

Still, the approval of U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January this year helped boost the market.

The SEC had long attempted to block ETFs from investing in bitcoin, citing investor protection concerns, but the products have allowed more investors, including institutional investors, to gain exposure to bitcoin.

More than $4 billion has streamed in to U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds since the election.

U.S.-listed crypto stocks, which have rallied in recent days, were steadier on Friday as the price surge paused.

But people were continuing to trade. Software firm Microstrategy which has repeatedly raised funds to buy bitcoin, and is a major holder of the asset, closed 6.2% higher on Friday.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe in London, Tom Westbrook in Singapore and Hannah Lang in New York; additional reporting by Medha Singh in BengaluruEditing by Kirsten Donovan, Susan Fenton and Matthew Lewis)