The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday appears to have sparked a surge in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin soared by more than 10% over the past week and over 5% in a single day, reaching around $63,000 on Monday morning. Just a few days ago, the leading cryptocurrency was trading at around $55,000. This increase comes after the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox began repaying its creditors billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin, which had led to a massive sell-off by creditors.
The assassination attempt on the former president is seen as potentially increasing the chances of the Republican nominee winning the presidential election. The crypto community is optimistic, believing that Trump, who has recently positioned himself as crypto-friendly, could be beneficial if elected.
Other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s upward trend. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, shot up more than 10% over the past week, with a more than 5% increase in a day, trading at $3,300. Major cryptocurrencies like Solana and Dogecoin also experienced significant gains, rising 5.4% and 4.8%, respectively, in just one day.
Several cryptocurrencies tied to Trump or the Republican Party also saw increases. One such cryptocurrency, TrumpCoin (DJT), has risen in price over the past few days. Despite claims by Martin Shkreli that he and Barron Trump, Donald Trump’s 18-year-old son, are behind the cryptocurrency, TrumpCoin is not officially affiliated with Donald Trump. TrumpCoin has surged nearly 25% in the past seven days, 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 recent days. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen continuous inflows since July 5, with over $310 million in inflows on July 12 alone.
BlackRock’s IBIT saw $120 million in inflows, the most 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.