Bitcoin breaks $100,000, Seoul retreats as traders eye S. Korea drama

HONG KONG — Bitcoin burst past $100,000 for the first time Thursday, while Seoul stocks slipped as South Korea's president faced impeachment after his brief imposition of martial law this week.

After hovering around the mid-$90,000 mark in recent weeks, the popular cryptocurrency finally shattered the historic level in Asia after incoming US president Donald Trump picked crypto proponent Paul Atkins to take over as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Atkins is founder of risk consultancy firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients include companies in the banking, trading and cryptocurrency industries.

And Trump's transition team noted he had co-chaired the Digital Chamber of Commerce, which promotes the use of digital assets, since 2017.

Atkins "recognises that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before", Trump said.

Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said Atkins has "a track record of critiquing the SEC's tough stance on cryptocurrency firms".

"This strategic move has electrified the crypto community, fuelling investor optimism about a potentially more accommodating regulatory landscape under Atkins' watch," said Innes.

After breaking the key level, bitcoin continued to push higher and hit a peak of $103,800 on Thursday.

It has jumped more than 50 per cent since Trump's victory — and around 140 per cent since the turn of the year — on hopes the US president-elect will push through measures to deregulate cryptocurrencies.

On the election campaign trail, he pledged to make the United States the "bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world".

Swift response

The rally in bitcoin came as traders keep track of events in South Korea, after President Yoon Suk Yeol's dramatic declaration of martial law which was lifted within hours.

The nation's opposition has now pushed for his impeachment, while the defence minister has resigned over the crisis.

The upheaval comes as Asia's number-four economy struggles to gain traction, while worries build on the possible impact of Trump's presidency as he prepares to reignite his hardball trade policy when he takes power next month.

But analysts saw some optimism.

"The silver lining we think is that the swift reversal of the martial law underscores the resilience of South Korea's institutions," said analysts at BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

"For now, we expect limited implications for the economy and financial markets as the Bank of Korea and the ministry of finance have responded swiftly by reassuring investors," they said.

Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis CIB, said the turmoil represented "a growth shock rather than a sovereign risk".

Seoul's Kospi fell 0.9 per cent, having finished more than one per cent down on Wednesday.

And the won — which initially hit a two-year low when the crisis erupted — remained at around 1,415 per dollar, slightly up from its levels before the martial law declaration late Tuesday.

Investors are also keeping tabs on France after the three-month-old government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier was brought down in a no-confidence vote linked to a controversial budget proposal.

The news out of the eurozone's second-largest economy had been expected and the euro saw no major impact, but the move injected fresh uncertainty into an already fraught political situation in France after divisive elections earlier this year.

In early European exchanges, the euro was trading at $1.0544, a little stonger than recent days. Paris stocks opened marginally higher.

Most other markets in Asia rose, tracking a record for all three main indexes on Wall Street, where soft data on jobs and services boosted hopes for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this month.

Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai and Taipei advanced but Hong Kong, Jakarta and Manila slipped.

London was flat at the open. Frankfurt was down.