Cryptocurrency prices spiked today following Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, with Bitcoin (BTC) briefly surpassing $75,300 — a new record high.
Within 24 hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, both saw gains exceeding 8%, while Solana (SOL) climbed more than 14% and Dogecoin (DOGE) surged by over 18%. Dogecoin remains a favorite of tech billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), EV maker Tesla, and space technology firm SpaceX. Musk endorsed Trump’s presidential bid in July.
Trump, only the second president to serve non-consecutive terms — Grover Cleveland, in the late 1800s, was the first — has consistently voiced support for the cryptocurrency industry. According to Forbes, a pivotal moment came during his meeting with representatives of the crypto mining sector in June this year. Following the meeting, Trump wrote on his social network, Truth Social, that he believes all remaining bitcoins should be mined in the U.S.
“Bitcoin mining may be our last line of defense against a CBDC [central bank digital currency]. Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin only helps China, Russia, and the Radical Communist Left. We want all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!! It will help us be ENERGY DOMINANT!!!” the 77-year-old presidential candidate posted.
Coindesk notes that Trump is the first major-party candidate in the U.S. to endorse the crypto industry. “If you go back to crypto a couple years ago, people said it wasn’t gonna make it but now it's up in record numbers. I guess you could say it's a form of currency and I think I’m for that, more and more I’m for that,” the publication cited Trump as saying at an event in Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.
During a September campaign event, Trump also promised to repay $35 billion of U.S. national debt using Bitcoin. His presidential campaign has received support from major crypto investors, including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bitcoin billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the Gemini exchange and Winklevoss Capital, who hold at least 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply, according to the Financial Times.
In 2023, crypto investors formed a committee, pooling over $75 million to support pro-crypto candidates in U.S. elections. In addition to those mentioned, the committee included the Coinbase exchange, cryptocurrency platform Ripple, and investors Ron Conway and Fred Wilson. The funds were intended to back candidates at all levels who supported industry growth in the U.S. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz also pledged to “support like-minded candidates and oppose candidates who aim to kill America’s advanced technological future,” as reported by CNBC.
While Trump publicly championed the crypto industry, U.S. President Joe Biden was seen as a threat to the sector’s development. His appointee asSEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, has been working to regulate the industry, a move that has frustrated crypto entrepreneurs. As part of his campaign, Trump promised to dismiss Gensler on his first day as president. Speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, Trump declared that the U.S. would become the “crypto capital of the world.” “I pledge to the Bitcoin community, the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s anti-crypto crusade will be over. It will end. It will be done. The moment I’m sworn in, the persecution stops and the weaponization ends against your industry,” Fortune Crypto cited Trump as saying.