Crypto surges on political respect as Donald Trump courts bitcoin enthusiasts

Crypto is surging again on a new wave of political respect as former President Donald Trump prepares to speak this week at a bitcoin conference in Nashville. The price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) is up more than 13% over the past month and surged above $68,000 in the last 24 hours, putting the world’s largest cryptocurrency within striking distance of an all-time high set earlier this year. This week, crypto investors are anticipating several reasons to get more hyped, including Securities and Exchange Commission approvals for exchange-traded funds that hold ether (ETH-USD), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. Those ETFs could make ether a potential staple in 401(k)s, IRAs, and pension plans and grant the digital asset more mainstream acceptance. Many of the same money managers waiting on approval already have ETFs that invest directly in bitcoin. But the big event creating the most excitement in the crypto community is this weekend, when Trump will speak at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. The stamp of approval from the Republican presidential nominee has many in the industry expecting a friendlier regulatory approach from Washington, D.C., in 2025 and beyond. Trump and many in his party have embraced digital assets as they seek to draw a contrast with the Biden administration, which led a crackdown on many of the industry’s major players following a market meltdown in 2022. The GOP said in its 16-page party platform last week that “Republicans will end Democrats’ unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown.” Trump, who in the past has called bitcoin a “scam,” referred to cryptocurrencies as “amazing” in an interview with Bloomberg published last week. “It’s more likely that a Trump administration would be more friendly to crypto than the Democrats have been, I think that’s clear,” Ian Katz, a managing director of Capital Alpha Partners, told Yahoo Finance. “We believe the market has not priced in a positive shift in the crypto regulatory environment, and we see significant headroom from institutional investors allocating to crypto and crypto stocks,” Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani added in a note Monday. Trump’s economic policies may also help digital assets go higher in the years to come, according to some observers. “What will drive the price of BTC is lower tax rates and tariffs, which if history is any guide (and it’s not always), will be inflationary,” Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban said over X last week. Bitcoin is up more than 50% in 2024 thus far, riding a series of developments that led many in the industry to bet on higher prices. They range from expectations of lower interest rates from the Federal Reserve to wider public acceptance of digital assets by some prominent figures on Wall Street. One such figure is BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who last week in an interview with CNBC referred to bitcoin as a “hedge for optimism” and a “legitimate financial instrument.” “I’m a major believer that there is a role for bitcoin in portfolios,” Fink said. BlackRock was among the firms that received approval in January to start issuing a spot bitcoin ETF, which turned out to be a major boon for its first half of the year. Its iShares bitcoin ETF (IBIT) saw $18 billion in net inflows over its first six months. It is also expected to be among the money managers to get approval from the SEC this week to launch the first US-regulated ether ETFs. The SEC has already approved stock exchanges to list those products. Bitcoin was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as a new kind of money out of the reach of governments. That’s led some in financial markets to see it as a kind of digital gold or even a safe haven store of value — even though cryptocurrencies have traded more closely with volatile technology stocks in recent years. Investors have, in fact, flocked to bitcoin during sudden shifts in the monetary order, like at the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, when the US and its allies began placing a number of sanctions on Russia. The next chance for this to happen is when the Fed begins lowering interest rates, which investors expect to happen as early as September. “Bitcoin has not had the opportunity to really shine as a safe haven store value asset,” said Joel Kruger, a market strategist for London-based currency and crypto trading venue LMAX. “Everything has been built around what is going on in the US equities market for years now and I do think there will be a rotation. Usually what triggers that is [interest] rates changing.”