It’s time for us bitcoin sceptics to eat humble pie – we were wrong.

Bitcoin has been on a tear since Donald Trump won the US election. It has surged more than 40 per cent to flirt with the momentous $US100,000 ($153,000) milestone for the first time in history.

In recent days, bitcoin has crept closer to the $US100,000 milestone.Credit: Jamie Brown

More than $US4 billion has flowed into US-listed bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) since the election alone. Bitcoin is the best-performing “asset” class – up more than 130 per cent this year, ahead of gold (up 32 per cent) and the US market (up 25 per cent).

Trading volume in MicroStrategy, the most popular way to gain leveraged bitcoin exposure via the stock market, last week surged to a record $US136 billion, eclipsing the previous record set by GameStop in 2021.

It’s been a perfect storm of bullish news for crypto recently, buoyed by expectations of a more crypto-friendly administration which may legislate a strategic bitcoin reserve and appoint a “crypto czar” to the White House.

Some liken bitcoin to digital gold, and a way to hedge against a doomsday-like scenario in which the US government defaults on its debt, which is growing at $US6.3 billion a day. The fundamentals, or lack thereof,........

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