Crypto Markets Rally After Assassination Attempt On Donald Trump

Crypto markets rallied Monday after a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) surged 4% over the past 24 hours to last change hands for $62,000, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum (ETH) rose by 3.9% and is trading for $3,334. Polkadot (DOT) and Solana (SOL) were up 1% and 3% respectively.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, Mog Coin (MOG) rallied, up 15%, followed by Pendle (PENDLE) with a 14% increase, and Stacks (STX) at 12%.

Assaults targeting Trump on Sunday occurred just days before he is set to accept the Republican nomination for the third time, AP reported.

Crypto trading firm QCP Capital in a note on Monday said the rally seems to be caused by the market pricing in a Trump win at the upcoming presidential election.

“..This is positive for crypto prices because of his overtly pro-crypto stance,” QCP capital wrote in its market update. “We think that the market was already positioned for a rally with the German government having exhausted their supply and also with large hedge funds aggressively buying calls last week. Trump was the perfect trigger for a market raring to go long.”

On the crypto betting platform Polymarket, Trump’s winning bet reached an all-time high, currently standing at 71%, while Biden’s is at 18%.

Trump-themed coin MAGA rallied 80% in the last 7 days and TREMP spiked 21% to $0.45. Meanwhile, BODEN, a meme coin named after Joe Biden, dropped about 3% in the past 7 days.

ETH ETFs Approval

The optimism in the crypto market also stems from expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve spot Ether ETFs this week. Issuers like VanEck and 21Shares have amended their S-1 registrations, hoping for a final go-ahead from the SEC. In total, eight issuers are awaiting regulatory approval to list their spot Ether ETFs.

Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, referred to this week as the "ETH ETF approval week."

“Welcome to spot ETH ETF approval week… I’m calling it,” he said. “Don’t know anything specific, just can’t come up with a good reason for any further delay at this point. Issuers are ready for launch.”

Last week, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said he was puzzled by the lack of activity regarding Ethereum ETFs, noting that the SEC has provided no updates.

“Yeah, [right now] it’s all quiet on the Western Front re[garding] ETH ETFs. Nada (Nothing) from the SEC this week,” he said. “Unclear why they [are] taking such sweet a** time. Every issuer is ready. Docs are ready. It’s like a rain delay in baseball. Gotta just wait. Maybe things will move fast next week.”

Market Inflows

According to CoinShares, digital asset investment products inflows reached $1.44 billion last week, bringing the total inflows for the year to a record $17.8 billion. This surpasses the $10.6 billion in inflows recorded in 2021.

Despite the high inflows, trading volumes were relatively low, totaling $8.9 billion for the week, compared to the yearly average of $21 billion. Bitcoin logged its fifth-largest weekly inflow on record with $1.35 billion.

“A wide range of altcoins saw inflows, most notable being Ethereum, which saw US$72m inflows last week, being the largest inflows since March and likely in anticipation of the imminent approval of the spot-based ETF in the US," James Butterfill, head of research at investment firm CoinShares wrote in a blog post.

CoinGlass reported that in the past 24 hours, 41,184 traders were liquidated, totaling $129.69 million in liquidations.

Meanwhile, stock futures also traded higher as investors looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Monday. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.4%.