SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Bitcoin rose to a record high in Asian trade as investors leaned towards Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose 7% to $75,060, hitting a March high, with the prospect of Trump returning to the White House ushering in a softer stance on cryptocurrency regulation.
Republican Trump won 15 states while Democrat Kamala Harris won seven states and Washington, Edison Research projects, and although the race was too early to declare financial markets moving, the Asian session priced in the former president’s victory.
Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency asset manager Astronaut Capital, said markets expect a change in attitude from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to remove the bottleneck for cryptocurrency innovation and speculation.
“(A) Democratic victory would be a short-lived nail in the coffin,” he said. “It probably won’t be the case in the long term, but the market places a lot of value on it.”
Smaller cryptocurrency ether was also up 7.5%, but at $2,593 it remained well below its 2021 high of $4,867.
