The news: Bitcoin hit a major milestone, surpassing $100,000 after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Paul Atkins as the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) chair.

• Atkins co-chaired the crypto advocacy organization Digital Chamber's Token Alliance. He has also criticized the SEC’s current crypto approach, arguing the agency should be more accommodating.
• Current SEC Chair Gary Gensler will step down on Inauguration Day.

Why this matters: A major hurdle to crypto payments adoption has been a lack of crypto regulation, leaving providers and consumers alike wary of moving forward.

• But an Atkins-led SEC will likely be more favorable to the industry and could help shape crypto-friendly regulation that makes it easier for crypto companies and crypto payment providers to grow.
• Lax regulation may also make financial institutions (FIs) feel more comfortable jumping into the industry.

Our take: Bitcoin’s milestone highlights consumer and business confidence in the future of the crypto industry under Trump and Atkins. While campaigning, Trump pledged to transform the US into the “crypto capital of the planet.”

Over the next four years, we expect crypto payments will gain momentum as more providers invest in space. There’s plenty of room for growth: We forecast that only 1.6% of internet users will make a crypto payment in 2024.

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