After a landslide victory in the presidential debate, Kamala Harris has increased her chances of winning the election. The cryptocurrency market reacted to this with a fall, as Harris’s position on cryptocurrencies, unlike the position of Donald Trump, remains unclear, Reuters reports.
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Betting on Harris to win rose from 53% to 56% after the debate, while Trump’s odds dropped from 52% to 48%, Reuters reported, citing data from online betting site PredictIt. After Harris’s speech, and perhaps after pop star Taylor Swift announced her support for Harris on Instagram✴ to her 280 million followers, the odds are that Trump, an ardent supporter of cryptocurrency, will end up in the White House. decreased slightly.
Bitcoin fell to 1.4% after Haris’ speech, while Ethereum fell 2.1%. Trump previously tried to gain support from the crypto industry by promising more lenient regulation in exchange for donations and votes. “Never sell your bitcoins,” Trump said at the time, adding that if elected, the US government would hold bitcoins as a store of value.
Ahead of the debate, many market participants and analysts viewed Bitcoin as an asset to watch to see which candidate would gain the upper hand. “Cryptocurrency was not directly discussed at the US presidential debates. However, market sentiment is shifting in favor of Kamala Harris,” said Valentin Fournier, an analyst at research firm BRN.
«All of this makes for a slightly less optimistic outlook for Bitcoin compared to the more enthusiastic predictions made by Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 conference.” After all, the crypto market is largely viewed as a risky business with high volatility, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission constantly accuses its participants of violating securities laws. However, the appeal of cryptocurrencies to the general public has increased due to support from institutional investors on Wall Street and the approval of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds in the US.
Reuters also reports that following the debate, shares of major mining companies Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital and Hut 8 fell between 2% and 2.6% in pre-market trading. Shares of software developer and BTC buyer MicroStrategy fell 3%, while shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global and blockchain farm operator Bitfarms fell 2% and 2.5%, respectively.