Bitcoin hits record as pro-crypto Trump wins presidency again

The largest digital asset rose as much as 9% to $75 372 as early results showed Trump barreling towards a win.

Bitcoin jumped to a record high, part of a wave of trades across global markets in response to Donald Trump emerging victorious over Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the US presidential election.

The largest digital asset rose as much as 9% to $75 372 as early results showed Trump barreling towards a win. It traded at just below $74,000 as of 10:40 a.m. Wednesday in London as networks declared Trump had won the race, setting him up for a second term in the White House. The last peak was in March, when investors were cheered by inflows into US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

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Bitcoin is viewed by many as a so-called Trump trade because the former president embraced digital assets during his campaign after a major push by the industry. Crypto muscled onto the high table of politics by deploying a giant campaign-finance war chest to further its agenda.

Trump vowed to make the US the crypto capital of the planet, create a strategic Bitcoin stockpile and appoint regulators who love digital assets. Harris adopted a more measured approach, pledging to support a regulatory framework for the industry. In contrast, the Securities & Exchange Commission under the Biden administration pursued a crackdown via a flurry of enforcement actions.

“The crypto industry feels like it’s been operating with one hand tied behind its back for years, and it senses that might be coming to an end,” said Matthew Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management Inc. “People are starting to position for the next few years in crypto.”

In Ohio, Republican car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur Bernie Moreno beat Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown. Crypto titans spent some $40 million to defeat Brown — a longtime skeptic of the industry — underlining the influence of their political outlays.

The prospect of friendlier US crypto rules led to gains across the digital-asset market. Second-ranked token Ether added about 8%. Dogecoin, a meme-crowd favorite promoted by Trump supporter Elon Musk, rallied 31% at one point.

Gensler’s fate

Gary Gensler Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

Digital-asset companies often complained that officials under President Joe Biden failed to create a clear new legal framework for the nascent market.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said existing rules apply and repeatedly labeled the sector as rife with fraud and misconduct. The agency cracked down on crypto following a 2022 market rout that triggered a litany of collapses, notably the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraudulent FTX exchange.

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Assuming Trump wins, “the first test of his credibility to watch out for is whether he will deliver on his promise to fire Gensler on his first day in office,” said Le Shi, Hong Kong managing director at market making firm Auros.

Bitcoin has now advanced 75% in 2024, topping assets such as stocks and gold. US spot-Bitcoin ETFs, from issuers such as BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments, have attracted $23.5 billion of net inflows following their launch at the start of the year — among the most successful new ETFs in history.

© 2024 Bloomberg

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