Bitcoin price surges after Trump's victory
The world is still reeling from the outcome of the US elections, where Donald Trump came out on top against Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of America.
Financial markets around the world have been affected by the shocking and unexpected news and the notoriously unpredictable digital currency Bitcoin is no exception, with prices close to hitting a 35-month high against the pound amidst investor uncertainty.
Against the dollar, the price of Bitcoin rose by up to 4.6 percent to reach a high of $738 on Wednesday, before settling at the $726 mark. This is approximately a three percent rise from Tuesday's price of $708.
But the same cannot be said for all cryptocurrencies. According to Coinmarketcap, Ethereum and Ripple -- Bitcoin's closest rivals -- experience drops of two percent and one percent respectively in the wake of the election outcome.
Speaking to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency hedge fund manager Jacob Eliosoff said: "I think a Trump presidency would be great for bitcoin, much like nuclear war would be great for bitcoin. It would be an epic disaster in a bunch of respects -- economic, geopolitical, democratic -- and in the fear and chaos bitcoin would be a defensive asset people could turn to".
Bitcoin has lived something or a turbulent life thus far, with the price also fluctuating significantly after the UK's EU referendum in in June, followed by a large-scale cyber attack against the Bitfinex exchange in August.
Despite this, many banks have now started hoarding stockpiles of Bitcoin in an effort to prepare themselves for potential ransomware attacks, as the majority of hackers prefer using the virtual currency.
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