Investing.com — Bitcoin prices rose on Tuesday, boosted by the prospect of friendlier crypto regulations in the United States, as traders speculated that Donald Trump will win a second term in the 2024 presidential race.
Reports also showed that the Securities and Exchange Commission was close to approving exchange-traded funds that directly track the world's No. 2 token, Ether, further raising optimism about a better regulatory environment.
Bitcoin price rose 2.3% over the past 24 hours to $64,073.6 as of 01:27 ET (05:27 GMT). Speculations about Trump helped the token rally in a big way, overcoming concerns about selling pressure from distributions from the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt Gox. This had sent Bitcoin plummeting to $54,000 in early July.
Bitcoin gets boost from Trump's bets
Bitcoin's rally came after a failed assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend was seen as a major boost to the former president's popularity.
This is believed to have given Trump some advantage over President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race. On Monday, Trump was officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate and also chose Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.
Trump has maintained a largely pro-crypto industry stance, recently declaring that the future of Bitcoin should be built in the United States rather than abroad.
Trump is also scheduled to speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville later this month.
A second Trump term would likely present a more favorable regulatory outlook for cryptocurrencies in the US, especially after a series of crackdowns on the industry by the SEC and the Department of Justice in recent years.
The SEC still has cases against the issuer of XRP and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:), with both firms facing allegations of distributing unregistered securities.
Cryptocurrency prices today: Altcoins rise, ether remains buoyant amid hopes for a spot ETF
Among broader cryptocurrency prices, altcoins rose following Bitcoin's gains.
The world's No. 2 token rose 2.6% to $3,420.75. A Reuters report said the SEC had given preliminary approval to at least three of the eight asset managers that had applied for a spot ETF, with trading set to begin as early as next week.
The launch of Ether spot ETFs could attract a similar amount of institutional investors as was seen with Bitcoin earlier this year. Bitcoin had reached all-time highs shortly after the launch of spot ETFs.
Other altcoins also rose, up 3% and 2.4% respectively, but lagged behind and traded sideways.
Among meme tokens, they added 4.3%, while they increased by 7.1%.
