WASHINGTON — The price of bitcoin topped $100,000 again Friday as a pumped-up cryptocurrency industry expects early action by Donald Trump when he’s sworn in as president Monday.

Once a skeptic who said a few years ago that bitcoin “seems like a scam,” Trump has embraced digital currencies with a convert’s zeal.

He has launched a new cryptocurrency venture and vowed on the campaign trail to take steps early in his presidency to make the U.S. into the “crypto capital” of the world.

His promises include creating a U.S. crypto stockpile, enacting industry-friendly regulation and even appointing a crypto “czar” for his administration.

Bitcoin is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency and was created in 2009 as a kind of electronic cash uncontrolled by banks or governments. It and newer cryptocurrencies have moved from the financial fringes to the mainstream in wild fits and starts.

The highly volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, as well as their use by criminals, scammers and rogue nations, has attracted plenty of critics, who say the digital currencies have limited utility and often are just Ponzi schemes.

But crypto has defied naysayers and survived multiple prolonged price drops in its short lifespan. Wealthy players in the crypto industry, which felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, spent heavily to help Trump win last November’s election.

Bitcoin has surged in price since Trump’s victory, topping $100,000 for the first time last month before briefly sliding down to about $90,000 earlier this week. Two years ago, bitcoin was trading at about $20,000.

On Friday, bitcoin rose about 5% to around $104,000, according to CoinDesk.