Investing.com-- Bitcoin price climbed higher on Tuesday, bolstered by the prospect of friendlier crypto regulations in the U.S. as traders speculated that Donald Trump will win a second term in the 2024 presidential race.
Reports also showed that the Securities and Exchange Commission was close to approving exchange-traded funds that directly track world no.2 token Ether, further increasing optimism over a better regulatory environment.
Bitcoin rose 2% in the past 24 hours to $63,893.4 by 09:11 ET (13:11 GMT). Speculation over Trump helped the token largely rise past concerns over selling pressure from distributions by defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox. This had seen Bitcoin crash to as low as $54,000 earlier in July.
Bitcoin buoyed by Trump bets
Bitcoin’s rebound came after a failed assassination attempt on Trump, over the weekend, was seen as greatly boosting the former president’s popularity.
This was seen giving Trump somewhat of an edge over President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race. Trump on Monday was officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, and also picked Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.
Trump has maintained a largely supportive stance towards the crypto industry, recently stating that the future of Bitcoin should be built in the U.S. and not overseas.
Trump is also set to speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville later this month.
A second term for Trump likely presents a more favorable regulatory outlook for crypto in the U.S., especially after a slew of crackdowns against the industry by the SEC and the Department of Justice in recent years.
The SEC still has cases against XRP issuer Ripple and crypto exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), with both firms facing allegations of distributing unregistered securities.
Crypto price today: altcoins rise, Ether buoyant on spot ETF hopes
Among broader crypto prices, altcoins rose tracking gains in Bitcoin.
World no.2 token Ether rose 1.6% to $3,405.75. A Reuters report said the SEC had given preliminary approval to at least three of the eight asset managers who had applied for a spot ETF, with trading set to begin from next week.
The launch of spot Ether ETFs could draw in a similar amount of institutional investors as that seen with Bitcoin earlier this year. Bitcoin had reached record highs shortly after the launch of the spot ETFs.
Other altcoins also rose, with XRP and SOL up 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively. ADA, on the other hand, fell 1.8%
Among meme tokens, DOGE added 3.3%, while SHIB rose 6.3%.
Ether ETFs to see only 30-35% of BTC ETFs' net inflows - Citi
Spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. are projected to see net inflows at only 30%-35% of the levels seen by their spot bitcoin counterparts, Citi said in a research report last week.
This translates to an estimated $4.7 billion to $5.4 billion in net inflows over six months. However, Citi cautioned that actual inflows and the beta of ether returns relative to these flows could be lower than these estimates.
"One reason is that while ETH may offer diversification benefits in the long-term, given its different and more extensive set of use cases, this is currently not the case," Citi analysts noted.
Spot ether ETFs are set to become available for trading in the U.S. after receiving approval from the SEC.