The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday appears to have impacted Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies positively.
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 earlier, the leading cryptocurrency was 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.
The assassination attempt on the former president is seen as increasing the chances of the Republican nominee winning the presidential election. The crypto community is enthusiastic because they believe it will be beneficial if Trump, who has recently portrayed himself as crypto-friendly, is elected.
Other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s lead, with Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, surging over 10% in the past week, including more than a 5% jump in a day, trading at $3,300. Other major cryptocurrencies such as 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 saw increases. One such cryptocurrency, TrumpCoin (DJT), has risen in value over 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 TrumpCoin, the cryptocurrency has soared nearly 25% in the past seven days and is currently trading at $0.008964.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs are also witnessing inflows. Investors have been pouring money into spot Bitcoin ETFs over the past few days. According to Farside, these 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 experienced a $115 million inflow. Grayscale’s GBTC, which has a history of outflows, also attracted investors with $23 million.