Bitcoin rose to over $120,000 on Monday, breaking the cryptocurrency’s all-time high as Congress considers several pieces of pro-crypto legislation.
The digital currency peaked at around $122,600 mid-afternoon Monday before declining to around $116,500 at around the same time Tuesday.
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The rise made the creator of Bitcoin, a person or group that goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, one of the richest people on the planet, as their 1.1 million coins were valued at over $134 billion.
Bitcoin is booming at a time when the House is considering three crypto-centric bills: the GENIUS Act, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. The Senate has already passed the GENIUS Act, legislation that seeks to regulate stablecoins.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act assists in regulating crypto as a whole, including specifying the roles of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the SEC in overseeing the digital tokens. Lastly, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would ban the Federal Reserve from creating its own digital currency.
Earlier this month, the House announced that this week would be labeled “Crypto Week.”
“House Republicans are taking decisive steps to deliver the full scope of President Trump’s digital assets and cryptocurrency agenda,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said then. “During ‘Crypto Week,’ the House looks forward to the timely consideration of three landmark pieces of legislation: the CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and the Senate’s GENIUS Act… I look forward to President Trump signing them into law.”
President Donald Trump is a fan of crypto and campaigned in favor of it during the 2024 election cycle.
Since the day he was elected, the digital currency has nearly doubled in value from $67,700 to $122,500 on Monday. Trump said in a June post that he wanted all Bitcoin made, or mined, in the United States.
“We want all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!! It will help us be ENERGY DOMINANT!!!” he said.
Some Democrats have backed the crypto legislation in the House while others have been unwilling to back Trump’s alleged “crypto corruption.”
“Aside from lacking urgently needed consumer protections and national security guardrails, these bills would make Congress complicit in Trump’s unprecedented crypto scam – one that has personally enriched himself, his entire family, and the billionaire insiders in his cabinet, all while defrauding investors,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) wrote in a joint statement with Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA).
It’s unclear how the other crypto legislation will go through Congress, but it hit roadblocks Tuesday.
Thirteen House Republicans voted with Democrats to block a procedural motion aiming to advance the package of crypto bills, though a vote is planned for later Tuesday. House Republicans such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had problems with parts of the crypto legislation.
“I just voted NO on the Rule for the GENIUS Act because it does not include a ban on Central Bank Digital Currency and because Speaker Johnson did not allow us to submit amendments to the GENIUS Act,” Greene wrote on X after the vote.
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“President Trump included a ban on CBDC in his January 23rd executive order, and Congress must also include the ban on CBDC in the GENIUS Act,” she continued.
Other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, which has the second-highest market cap of all cryptocurrencies, also surged this month.