After generally underperforming Bitcoin during much of this year, smaller cryptocurrencies such as Doge and Solana may end up having the most at stake following the conclusion of the US presidential election.
Bitcoin rose as much as 4.6% to $70,165 on Tuesday, or about 5% below the record high of around $73,800 reached in March. The largest cryptocurrency by market value has gained more than 65% this year.
Doge jumped as much as 17% on Tuesday, bolstered in part by comments by long-time supporter Elon Musk about launching a Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E., if Donald Trump wins the election.
“For Bitcoin, the election doesn’t matter much,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital. “For altcoins, they may not recover as much if Kamala Harris wins. They are the biggest winners or losers of the election.”
Altcoins, which refers to the cryptocurrencies that are smaller than Bitcoin, tended to perform better in the past up market cycles, especially with investors rotating to the small-cap coins after major Bitcoin rallies. But in the past year, altcoins in general have struggled to outperform Bitcoin, with the exception of so-called memecoins, which are coins without any utility. Dogecoin is considered by many as the original memecoin.
Ebtikar added that a Harris win could mean more regulatory crackdown on the crypto industry, while Bitcoin and Ether may survive since the two coins are considered as more decentralized than other coins. During campaigning, Republican nominee Trump took a strong pro-crypto stance, when Democratic rival Harris pledged to back a regulatory framework for digital assets. The crypto supporters have largely agreed that a Trump win would be much more beneficial to the crypto industry.
Other traders argued that the result of the election overall will be a good event for the crypto market.
“Medium term, we think markets are headed higher regardless of who wins, as we move past the elections and back to macro and the Fed,“ said Shiliang Tang, president of principal trading firm Arbelos Markets.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.