Bitcoin rallied, breaking above $81,000 for the first time on Monday as it benefits from traders’ hopes that Donald Trump will favor cryptocurrencies when he returns to the White House.

Bitcoin touched the record high of $81,899, before falling back to $81,100, up about 2.7% on Monday. Its price has more than doubled from about $37,000 12 months ago.

Donald Trump has previously called bitcoin a “fraud against the dollar,” but changed his mind about cryptocurrencies during his US election campaign. That raised an expectation of loosening rules to make it easier for savers to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — though Trump has not set any policy.

Prices have also risen for other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and dogecoin, a meme coin previously backed by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X.

Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index, described the moves in cryptocurrency markets as a “Trump pump,” as traders bet the president-elect will usher in a period of cryptocurrency adoption.

The price of bitcoin was below $70,000 on election day last Tuesday, but has gained nearly a fifth in value since then.

The rise has sparked a wave of excitement among cryptocurrency investors. Interest in them tends to increase as prices rise. Google Trends data showed that the number of people online searching for “bitcoin” has reached its highest level since early March, although it remains about half of its peak in May 2021, when prices soared as investment banks became interested before it fell again.

Bitcoin has gained about 94% so far in 2024, helped by strong demand for US exchange-traded funds and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.