Cash News
While the race for the White House seemed like a dead heat, crypto investors remained confident in a Trump win. When those hopes were realized early on Wednesday, industry leaders took a victory lap as Bitcoin reached an all-time high.
“We have a #Bitcoin President,” Michael Saylor, founder and chairman of the largest public corporate holder of Bitcoin Microstrategy, wrote on X alongside a photo of a Bitcoin flag flying atop the White House.
We have a #Bitcoin President. pic.twitter.com/HUACTe1XPI
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) November 6, 2024
By running on the most pro-crypto election platform ever, Trump made his victory synonymous with a booming crypto market and successfully courted the new voting bloc.
Interest groups also helped to catapult crypto-friendly candidates into Congress.
In a post on X welcoming “America’s most pro-crypto Congress ever,” Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, wrote, “Being anti-crypto is simply bad politics.”
Before Trump’s victory was even called, Bitcoin had smashed through $75,000 on Tuesday night, surging past its previous all-time high of $73,000 set in March.
In the immediate aftermath of his win, the entire market soared. While Bitcoin is climbing above $76,000, Coinbase shares had skyrocketed 30%. Similarly, other crypto-related stocks are up as well with Microstrategy gaining 13% and Robinhood gaining 20%.
The CoinDesk 20 Index, a measurement of the top 20 digital assets, has gained 10% in the last 24 hours. The industry’s total market cap has also grown 8% reaching $2.45 trillion, the highest since June. Ethereum and Solana are up 11% and 12%, respectively.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s favorite token Dogecoin has jumped 16% over the last day as Trump’s victory means continued conversations about Musk’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E— a clear nod to the memecoin.
A Trump win signals the end of an era marred by what the industry saw as aggressive regulation and unjustified lawsuits that inhibited innovation over the past few years.
“Imagine how much we are going to accomplish in the next 4 years now that the crypto industry won’t be hemorrhaging $ billions on legal fees fighting the SEC and instead investing this money into building the future of money,” Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of crypto exchange Gemini, wrote on X. “Amazing awaits.”
Once a skeptic of the crypto industry, Trump increased his crypto cred by launching his own token in October and promising to make America the “crypto capital of the planet.” The former president appealed to the crypto community with promises including creating a crypto advisory council, firing anti-crypto Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, stockpiling a Bitcoin reserve, and ensuring that all remaining Bitcoin be made in the U.S.