By Joe Light and George Glover and Callum Keown
Bitcoin jumped to a record high and crypto stocks jumped on Wednesday as former President Donald Trump declared victory in the U.S. election.
The largest cryptocurrency briefly topped $75,000 in early trading to pass the previous intraday high it had hit in March, according to Dow Jones Market Data. At 4 a.m. Eastern Time it was up 6.8% at $73,657.
Crypto-related stocks surged in premarket trading as MicroStrategy jumped 12.4%, Coinbase Global rose 11.3%, and MARA Holdings added 10.6%.
Other cryptocurrencies were also racking up gains. Ethereum climbed 7% to $2,617, Solana spiked 12.9% to $184, and Dogecoin -- a so-called meme token that has been touted by Trump ally Elon Musk -- surged 16% to just under 20 cents.
The surge in prices comes as Trump looks set to win the election. Late Tuesday, the Associated Press projected that the Republican candidate would win North Carolina's 16 electoral college votes. Early Wednesday, it called Georgia and its 19 electoral votes and Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes for Trump.
Shortly after that news, Trump took to the stage at an election party in West Palm Beach, Fla. and declared himself the winner. AP still hasn't called the race for either candidate.
Both candidates have embraced crypto this election cycle. Harris called blockchain one of the "industries of the future," and pledged to support Bitcoin and other tokens as part of her economic plan.
But it has been obvious for a while that most digital-asset bulls were rooting for Trump. Having once trashed cryptos as being "based on thin air," the Republican nominee has done a dramatic U-turn on the sector this year. In July, he pledged to set up a Bitcoin strategic reserve and to replace Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, who's widely seen as a crypto hawk.
The price of Bitcoin had been expected to swing wildly late Tuesday and early Wednesday, when most other U.S. markets weren't open. The crypto could jump above $80,000 over the next two months if Trump wins, Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani said in a research note on Monday. If Harris wins, prices could fall to $50,000, they wrote.
Write to Joe Light at joe.light@barrons.com and George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 06, 2024 04:26 ET (09:26 GMT)
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