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Reported by The Block: The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has gained nearly 70% year-to-date and reached a new all-time high today, as the market processes Republican candidate Donald Trump’s early lead in the 2024 presidential race.
Bitcoin's price has crossed the $73,737.94 mark to set a new all-time high, as the market processes Republican candidate Donald Trump’s early lead in the 2024 presidential election.
Bitcoin has risen 9.5% over the past 24 hours to currently change hands at around $74,700, according to The Block’s price page.
Bitcoin has continued its run after breaking above its November 2021 all-time high of $69,000 on March 5 and then hitting the $73,000 level on March 13. Since hitting that high, Bitcoin has remained rangebound between $50,000 and $70,000 for the better part of seven months.
Ether price went up 6.72% to trade at $2,562, and Solana jumped 13.29% to $179 along with price gains seen across major altcoins resulting in a 6.77% in the overall crypto market, The Block’s data showed.
The new all-time high comes amid the U.S. presidential election. Former President Donald Trump has embraced a much more crypto-friendly approach to the industry in his bid for a second term.
The Republican candidate's stance on cryptocurrency changed in May when his campaign started accepting crypto as a form of donation. He has since met with executives from bitcoin mining companies and has said he wants to make the U.S. "the crypto capital" of the world. Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris has been much more muted on the topic.
According to AP News, Trump has won 52.5% of the votes so far, where he took 198 electoral college votes. Harris currently earned 99 electoral votes.
On the decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket’s $3 billion bet on the election results, the Republican candidate’s odds of winning soared to 84.3% in the past day.
Lennix Lai, chief commercial officer of OKX, said that uncertainty in macroeconomic policy will likely continue, leading to more short-term volatility.
“The market had also priced in a Trump win, which has created short-term euphoria as we've seen with today's all-time high, but retrenchments on the way to further all-time highs are likely,” said Lai. “As a candidate, Trump sent very bullish signals to the market about embracing the crypto industry and strengthening the United States' status as a global, regulated crypto hub. If implemented, this will have broad repercussions globally.”
“Historically, October and November have yielded some of the strongest returns of the year, and today's breakthrough aligns with industry expectations,” said Ben El-Baz, managing director of HashKey Global. “The coming days will be eventful with the heated U.S. election, the Fed’s Nov. 6 rate decision, and the Nov. 8 U.S. jobs report.”
“Analysts expect a lot of volatility as key swing states begin counting votes but prediction markets are overwhelmingly expecting a Trump victory, which may be leading the surge in prices. Bitcoin may hit new all-time highs once the results have been officially declared, finalizing a very uncertain event for the crypto industry,” said Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research.
ETF momentum
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has gained nearly 70% year-to-date, spurred by substantial inflows to the new spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States. Since trading began on Jan. 11, the ETFs have generated over $450 billion in daily cumulative volume as of Oct. 28. Over $3.6 billion has now flowed into bitcoin ETFs in October alone, pushing year-to-date inflows to $22.5 billion as of October.
“We believe that current bitcoin prices and flows are heavily influenced by U.S. politics, with the recent surge in inflows likely linked to the Republicans' poll gains,” CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill said last month.
The Bitcoin halving event on April 20 was another narrative behind the price rise this year. The halving saw the amount of new bitcoin entering circulation via the miners’ reward subsidy drop from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. The miners continue to earn additional transaction fees for each block mined.
Programmed to occur automatically every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years — Bitcoin halvings have historically been associated with significant fluctuations in the cryptocurrency's price. While not a direct cause-and-effect relationship, these events have often preceded substantial bull runs in the bitcoin market.
"The new bitcoin all-time high not only marks a monumental milestone for the cryptocurrency, but it underscores the enduring resilience and growing mainstream acceptance of decentralised digital assets," Coinbase UK CEO Daniel Seifert previously told The Block. "It is a reflection of the increase in demand for this asset."
Earlier this year, analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein were “more convinced” about a $150,000 bitcoin price target this cycle. Most recently, those same analysts claimed their current $200,000 bitcoin price prediction for the end of 2025 is “conservative,” urging skeptics to reconsider the limited supply of cryptocurrency in an era of record U.S. debt levels.
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