An assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday appears to have influenced the cryptocurrency market significantly.
Bitcoin experienced a surge of over 10% in a week and more than 5% in a single day, reaching approximately $63,000 on Monday morning. This rise comes after Bitcoin was trading around $55,000 due to the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox starting to repay its creditors billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin, which led to a massive sell-off.
This assassination attempt is perceived by some as boosting Trump’s chances of becoming the Republican nominee for the presidential election. The cryptocurrency community is optimistic, believing that Trump, who has recently positioned himself as crypto-friendly, might help the industry if elected.
Following Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies also saw significant gains. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, saw a rise of over 10% in the past week and more than 5% in a single day, trading at $3,300. Solana and Dogecoin experienced increases of 5.4% and 4.8%, respectively, in just one day.
Cryptocurrencies linked to Trump or the Republican Party also saw significant surges. TrumpCoin (DJT), despite not being affiliated with Donald Trump, gained nearly 25% in the past seven days and is currently trading at $0.008964. This rise in TrumpCoin comes despite false claims that Donald Trump’s son, Barron Trump, and “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli are behind it.
In addition to these Trump-related developments, there has been a notable increase in investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs in recent days. Starting from July 5, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen consecutive inflows, with more than $310 million on July 12 alone. BlackRock’s IBIT saw the highest inflows at $120 million, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $115 million. Grayscale’s GBTC, which usually has outflows, attracted $23 million in investments.