Donald Trump Becomes 47th President of the United States: Implications for the Crypto Industry

Following the recent election, Republican candidate Donald Trump became the 47th president of the United States, surpassing Democrat Kamala Harris. The results were reported by Bloomberg, AP News, FOX News, and other media outlets.

World leaders have already begun congratulating Trump on his victory. Among them are French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The inauguration is scheduled for January 20, 2025. Trump had previously announced his victory and noted that Republicans gained a majority in the Senate. Ohio Senator J.D. Vance will serve as his vice president.

“Crypto President of the Crypto Capital of the Planet”

In June, during a fundraising event in San Francisco, Trump presented himself as a defender of digital assets, criticized Democrats’ failed attempts to regulate the industry, and declared his intention to become the “crypto president”, Reuters reported, citing sources.

In August, the Republican unveiled a plan aimed at strengthening the US’s leadership in the cryptocurrency sector and making the country the “crypto capital of the planet”.

If elected president, Trump also promised to dismiss SEC Chairman SEC Gary Gensler. According to Politico sources, candidates for his position include Robinhood’s chief legal officer Dan Gallagher, former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, and former agency general counsel Robert Stebbins.

Trump’s promises also include:

• releasing Silk Road darknet market founder Ross Ulbricht;
• creating a strategic national bitcoin reserve and prohibiting the sale of confiscated BTC;
• preventing the introduction of CBDCs in the US;
• protecting the mining sector in the country and worldwide;
• not interfering with the use of digital gold or other cryptocurrencies.

The politician congratulated the community on the 16th anniversary of the bitcoin white paper’s publication and even paid for burgers with bitcoins, treating supporters of the asset at the themed New York bar PubKey.

However, in an August interview with billionaire Elon Musk, the Republican did not mention cryptocurrencies, despite community expectations. During the September debates, Trump and Harris also avoided the topic of digital assets.

Bitcoin Hits New ATH as PolitiFi Tokens Surge and Crash

Following Trump’s victory, the leading cryptocurrency reached a new all-time high of $75,400 before entering a correction. At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $73,600.

The election and Trump’s victory also affected parody “political coins” (PolitiFi).

MAGA (TRUMP) reached $4.63 and fell to $3. MAGA Hat (MAGA) dropped to $0.00013, Doland Tremp (TREMP) to $0.34, and Super Trump (STRUMP) to $0.003.

Among the largest PolitiFi tokens, only three showed growth in the last 24 hours:

• ConstitutionDAO (PEOPLE) — +5%;
• Doland Tremp (TREMP) — +16.9%;
• Patriot (PATRIOT) — +14.5%.

Tokens dedicated to Harris fell more significantly. In a day, Kamala Horris (KAMA) lost 91.9%, Kamabla (KAMABLA) 92.6%, and Kumala Herris (MAWA) 99.2%. The meme token Jeo Boden (BODEN) dropped by 19.1% over the last 24 hours.

Experts had predicted bitcoin’s rise in the event of Trump’s victory. In October, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan called it one of the conditions for the first cryptocurrency to surpass $80,000 by the end of the year.

According to Bernstein analysts, digital gold will soar to $80,000-90,000 if Trump wins and fall to $50,000 if Harris takes the presidency.

JPMorgan believes a Republican return to the White House would be a favorable prospect for bitcoin in 2025. Specialists also predicted the first cryptocurrency’s growth in the event of Trump’s victory.

Standard Chartered analysts noted the potential for Solana to increase fivefold by the end of 2025 if voters favor the Republican candidate.

Elections Propel Prediction Platforms

The 2024 US presidential elections will also be remembered for the rise in popularity of prediction platforms. Polymarket users wagered over $3.6 billion on the outcome of the year’s main political event in America.

“The point of Polymarket is that, from the traders’ perspective, it’s a betting site, and from the viewers’ perspective, it’s a news resource. Twitter and the internet are full of people (including elites) making harmful and inaccurate predictions about conflicts. Being able to check if people with real skin in the game think something has a 2% or 50% chance is a valuable feature that helps maintain sanity,” wrote Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

In May, the platform raised $70 million. According to The Information sources, Polymarket plans to raise another $50 million and consider issuing a token.

In August, the team behind the perpetual contracts trading protocol on Solana called Drift launched the prediction platform BET. By the end of the month, it surpassed Polymarket in daily trading volume on the Ethereum network.

Another alternative to the segment’s undisputed leader is the prediction platform Kalshi. The volume of bets on the US presidential election reached $393 million.

As reported by ForkLog, there is an unexpected connection between electoral processes in the US and the digital asset market, explored in a separate long read.