HONG KONG – 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 per cent to US$75,372 as early results showed Trump barreling towards a win. The last peak was in March, when investors were cheered by inflows into US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
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 US$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 per cent. Dogecoin, a meme-crowd favorite promoted by Trump supporter