Bitcoin came within a whisker of closing above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president spurred expectations that his administration will create a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies. The world's largest cryptocurrency was trading between $98,000 and $99,000 in late afternoon trading in the U.S. on Thursday, after briefly touching $99,073. Bitcoin has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 40% in the two weeks since Trump was voted in as the next U.S. president and a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers were elected to Congress.