Betting on US election pushes Bitcoin price to highest level in 3 months
Last Updated on 17 October 2024 by CryptoTips.eu
After a judge ruled earlier this week that online betting on the outcome of the American presidential election is legal, Bitcoin jumped to its highest price in three months. Commentators claim that the growing likelihood of Trump being re-elected as president is bound to give crypto a big boost.
Kalshi
Betting in the United States is normally controlled by the states (and by the mafia if ‘Casino’ is to be believed) and so until recently presidential election betting was prohibited as states had no control over the entire US territory. A lawsuit filed by Kalshi and Interactive Brokers, two American companies that want to make online gambling legal, put an end to this (at least for the next few weeks). American regulators are bound to appeal the ruling, but at least until November 5, the day of the presidential election, American citizens can bet online on a Trump or Harris win.
BREAKING: Trump's odds have jumped to 57% hitting an all time high on Kalshi
— Kalshi (@Kalshi) October 15, 2024
🔴Donald Trump 57%
🔵Kamala Harris 43% pic.twitter.com/rRVkIFd7oc
Although the official polls (in the international media) currently say it is a 50/50 chance, according to those sites it is a very different story. After all, gamblers are betting a lot more money on Trump than on Harris. He leads with 55% compared to 45% for her.
Bullish
According to Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at British bank Standard Chartered, that’s one of the main reasons Bitcoin’s correlation with stock markets doesn’t really make sense this week. While tech stocks took a hit (including due to ASML’s profit warning), Bitcoin continued to rise, until it briefly touched $68,000 yesterday.
Bitcoin’s surge over the past two days coincides with Trump’s election odds reaching their highest levels since July this week. pic.twitter.com/5kDRLibAtX
— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) October 15, 2024
That’s because Trump is seen as very bullish for crypto. The former Republican president launched his own cryptocurrency last week (which turned out to be much less popular than expected) and recently became the first former president to pay with Bitcoin. He also promised to release Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht from prison on the first day of his new presidency.