Trump’s decisive victory in the presidential election has prompted celebratory chest-thumping from the digital-asset industry, which spent over US$100 million backing a range of crypto-friendly candidates.
The largest token climbed as much as 6.1 per cent on Sunday, before extending the gain to an unprecedented US$81,497 early in the Asian day on Monday. Bullish sentiment lifted smaller coins too, including a surge in Dogecoin, a meme-crowd favourite promoted by Trump supporter Elon Musk.
“With the dust from Trump’s victory still settling down, it was only a matter of time before a run-up of some sort occurred given the perception of Trump being pro-crypto, and that’s what we’re seeing now,” said Le Shi, Hong Kong managing director at market-making firm Auros.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail to put the US at the centre of the digital-asset industry, including creating a strategic bitcoin stockpile and appointing regulators enamoured with digital assets. Jubilant traders for the moment are paying little heed to questions such as the speed of likely implementation or whether a strategic stockpile is a realistic possibility.