An assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday has seemingly propelled Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin surged by more than 10% in a week and over 5% in a day, reaching around $63,000 on Monday morning. Just a few days ago, the top cryptocurrency was hovering around $55,000 as the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox began repaying its creditors billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin, leading to a massive sell-off by creditors.
The assassination attempt is seen as increasing the chances of the Republican nominee winning the presidential election. The crypto community is excited because they believe that it will be beneficial if Trump, who has presented himself as crypto-friendly recently, is elected.
Other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s trend, with Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, soaring over 10% in the past week with more than a 5% jump in a day, trading at $3,300. Other major cryptocurrencies like Solana and Dogecoin experienced a 5.4% and 4.8% increase in value, respectively, in just one day.
Several cryptocurrencies dedicated to Trump or the Republican Party also experienced surges. One of them, TrumpCoin (DJT), has risen in price in the past few days. Despite false claims from disgraced “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli that he and Barron Trump, the 18-year-old son of Donald Trump, are behind the crypto, TrumpCoin is not affiliated with Donald Trump. The cryptocurrency has soared nearly 25% in the past seven days and is currently trading at $0.008964.
In addition to the Trump-related momentum, Bitcoin is seeing a surge because investors have been pouring money into spot Bitcoin ETFs in the past few days. According to Farside, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen consecutive inflows since July 5, with over $310 million in inflows on July 12 alone.
BlackRock’s IBIT saw $120 million in inflows, the highest among all spot Bitcoin ETFs, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC, which saw a $115 million inflow. Grayscale’s GBTC, which has a history of outflows, also attracted investors with $23 million.