Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies traded higher on Friday following a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump that analysts said was “bullish” for digital assets.
Total cryptocurrency market capitalization rose to $320.37 billion by 10:34 AM ET (14:34 GMT), compared to $308.72 billion a day earlier.
Bitcoin, the largest alt coin by market cap, did dip 0.6% to $11,666.00 on the Investing.com Index, but its closest rivals all traded higher. Ethereum increased 1.0% to $274.34, XRP gained 3.1% to $0.34404, while Litecoin advanced 2.5% to $105.275.
Trump tweeted on Thursday evening that he was not a fan of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, which were “based on thin air”.
Although an open attack on digital assets, Craig Erlam, market analyst at OANDA, commented on the price action in a note published Friday.
“Bitcoin has proven to be very resilient to the attacks though, dropping around $500 following the tweets - a drop in the ocean by its standards - before rebounding today,” he said.
“I doubt this will be Trump’s final intervention on the subject though so there’ll be plenty more tests for the cryptocurrency space which is probably being helped by the fact that it’s going through a good moment right now thanks to the Libra announcement,” Erlam added.
Investing.com analyst Clement Thibault had only one word to say on Friday in response to Trump’s tweet: “Bullish”.
Although far from a glowing comment on the sector, the very fact that the president of the United States tweeted on topic reflects that cryptocurrency has become a household name.
Long-time bitcoin enthusiasts were also quick to defend their investment.
Tron Foundation founder Justin Sun, who won the auction to have lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, tweeted to Trump that he was a victim of “fake news”. He invited the president to come to the lunch so he could learn more about crypto that anyone else.