Bitcoin Surges to Two-Week High Following Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump
Bitcoin surged to a two-week high on Monday after the attempted assassination of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump raised the odds of the former president, who has presented himself as a champion of cryptocurrency, winning the upcoming election.
Trump stated he was shot in the ear during the attack at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. His campaign reported that he was doing well. Some investors believe the attack has bolstered his chances of winning back the White House, and trades betting on his victory are expected to increase this week.
Bitcoin rose 8.6% to $62,508, touching a two-week high of $62,698 earlier in the session, bringing its year-to-date gains to 47%.
Ether also increased by 6.8% to $3,322.
Trump is running against Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s U.S. election and has criticized the Democrats’ attempts to regulate the crypto sector. During a San Francisco fundraiser in June, Trump presented himself as a champion for cryptocurrency, although he hasn’t offered specifics on his proposed crypto policy.
“He’s certainly positioned himself as pro-crypto, and as the odds of his reelection were galvanized by the shooting on the weekend, it’s certainly put a big boost underneath the bid in crypto markets, and Bitcoin, obviously, just an absolute standout,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
Trump is scheduled to speak at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 27, the organizers of the conference announced last week.
Bitcoin had a strong start to the year after the launch of exchange-traded funds in the U.S., propelling it to a record $73,803.25 in mid-March but has since struggled. It fell to an over four-month low in early July as traders worried about the likely dumping of tokens from the defunct Japanese exchange Mt. Gox.
“We had four weeks of declines on the back of the Mt. Gox news… but the rebound, it looks to me like it’s got further to go, and I wouldn’t be surprised seeing it head back up towards, at least towards $65,000 by the end of this week,” said IG’s Sycamore.
Source: Reuters
