Why Trump is seen as a 'friendlier' leader for crypto, fintech: Analyst

Citizens JMP director of financial technology research Devin Ryan joins Market Domination to discuss his top crypto and fintech plays and the sectors' outlook as the election looms ahead. Ryan points to Robinhood (HOOD) as a buying opportunity despite it trading at 11 times its 2025 EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) estimate. "You can make an argument that there's still a long way to go," Ryan says, pointing to the fact that, he says, the company has grown its revenues by 40% this year and made more money in the first half of 2024 than they did in all of 2023 all while keeping expenses low. He also sees Goldman Sachs (GS) as a good opportunity, noting that it is a "pure play on a capital markets recovery." He explains, "We've been in this incredibly depressed capital markets environment the last two and a half years... So if you think we're going to recover there, which lower interest rates, more risk-on, and just purely time going by, Goldman is going to be more levered to that." However, he notes that Morgan Stanley (MS) is in a weaker position despite it being a "stable" company. Ryan argues "wealth management has benefited from higher interest rates. As rates come down, you get a little bit of a headwind from interest rates. So what's been a benefit becomes a little bit of a headwind. And so they're less of a pure play on that capital markets story." As the presidential election lies less than two months away, Ryan explains that the Trump campaign is running on less regulation than the Harris campaign, making it a "friendlier administration for fintech, for crypto." He adds, "The voting bloc is becoming much more pro-crypto, there's more people that have exposure to crypto in the United States." Thus, single-issue voters are going to be very important in this upcoming election. He believes that because of this the Harris administration will likely roll out "more constructive" policy than the Biden administration has over the last four years. "That doesn't necessarily mean everything's going to be great, that the industry wants. But I think we're moving the pendulum more toward the middle," he concludes. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination. This post was written by Melanie Riehl