‘Bitcoin summer’ blows in following Trump, GOP victories


‘Bitcoin summer’ blows in following Trump, GOP victories

Nov. 16, 2024, 5:00 AM PST For Brandon Mintz, it was the text messages and calls that started rolling in from friends and colleagues asking how high bitcoin prices could go. For Lee Bratcher, it was the surge in ticket sales for his annual North American Blockchain Summit. They were signs, the two bitcoin industry executives said, that the next era of cryptocurrency could soon be dawning. President-elect Donald Trump’s win on the heels of his campaign’s embrace of cryptocurrency technology, along with Senate and House victories by a Republican Party seen as friendlier to crypto interests, have sparked a fresh wave of optimism in the crypto world. It’s a sharp turn in sentiment for an industry that, 24 months ago, was reeling from a precipitous crash in prices, multibillion-dollar scandals and deep questions about the use cases for blockchain technology. The newfound optimism has for some approached euphoria, according to executives and experts in the space. “It’s exuberant,” Bratcher, the head of the nonprofit Texas Blockchain Council, told NBC News. He said his summit, taking place later this month in Dallas, has now sold out — a development he said he was not expecting prior to the election. “The industry recognizes significant changes are going to be coming,” he said. The energy has been apparent to anyone watching the price of bitcoin. The most popular cryptocurrency shot well above previous all-time highs after Trump’s win became clear, briefly topping $93,000 — a roughly 33% increase in the span of just one week. As of Friday afteroon, it was trading right around $90,000, still well above its previous peak levels. The bull run is predicated on a range of proposed reforms that advocates say will unleash even more demand for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — while ultimately, in Trump’s words, making the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet.” For some skeptics, though, a rapid embrace of all things crypto without regulatory safeguards is fueling concerns of even more rampant scams. In 2023, the FBI received approximately 70,000 complaints of crypto scams costing people $5.6 billion. There is hope in the industry that bringing more of it into a defined legal framework and onto U.S. shores will ultimately reduce the number of victims. ‘Career risk’ diminished Mintz, who runs Bitcoin Depot, a bitcoin ATM company, said he expects federal officials to move from a policy of regulation via enforcement and penalization to a more laissez-faire approach. “We believe the regulatory environment will change to spur more innovation, not just for crypto firms but all holders of bitcoin,” Mintz said. The hope is that, as Trump-appointed regulators provide clearer guidelines for large banks and other traditional financial entities, mainstream interest in bitcoin investment will flourish. Bratcher said the current lack of clarity about bitcoin-investment rules, based on overlapping rulings from agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has created “career risk” for money managers who may have desired to own bitcoin for their clients but who were afraid of personal or professional sanction. Some of that risk dissipated with the approval earlier this year of bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which allow investors to benefit from bitcoin’s price appreciation. But with the new administration, Bratcher said, investors can expect the regulations “they’ve been asking for” — and with it, the ability for everyone from the uberrich to 401(k) holders to benefit from what he said would be bitcoin’s inevitable long-term price gains.