Bitcoin surges past $67,000 amid election anticipation

On Thursday, the price of bitcoin shot to more than $67,600, after previously jumping to an all-time high of $69,000 over the weekend, according to Decrypt.

“We don’t see this necessarily as linked to U.S. election odds moving around but more of a natural liquidity hunt after a big move up last week,” Ryan McMillin, chief investment officer at Merkle Tree Capital, told Decrypt.

“We expect we’ll retest the $70,000 resistance again soon, but we could have to wait until the U.S. election for a real breakout,” McMillin added.

As of late October, former president Donald Trump is showing a slight lead over opponent Kamala Harris, but it remains to be seen if the Republican candidate will sustain this lead by November’s election.

Still, analysts are watching bitcoin's market movement optimistically. “A decisive break above $71,000 will point to the market placing a high probability of a Trump win,” Pratik Kala, head of research at Apollo Crypto, told Decrypt.

Trump’s dominance is also visible on Polymarket, the popular prediction market site that is not open to U.S. voters. Crypto bettors on the site recently wagered nearly $800 million that Trump will win the 2024 presidential contest, saying that he has a 62.5% chance of success. Only 37.5% of crypto bettors on the site are optimistic that his rival, Harris, will emerge victorious.

Crypto campaign dollars have played a major influence in the 2024 elections, logging a record-breaking $119 million in campaign contributions this year alone, according to the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group Public Citizen. "The crypto sector’s outsized influence in competitive races has the potential to tip control of Congress one way or the other," Public Citizen said.