Bitcoin hit its highest level in more than six weeks after Donald Trump said over the weekend that he would end the “persecution” of the cryptocurrency industry if he wins the US presidential election.
The cryptocurrency’s price rose more than 3% on Monday to hit a high of about $69,745, the highest since June 12, when the coin was trading at more than $69,800.
The surge comes after Trump’s supportive comments at the Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville, Tennessee, where he said on Saturday he would make the United States the world leader in cryptocurrencies and take a more pro-bitcoin stance than his rival, Kamala Harris.
The former president said: “I make a commitment to the Bitcoin community that the day I am sworn in, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ anti-crypto crusade will be over… If we don’t embrace crypto and Bitcoin, China will, other countries will. They will dominate, and we can’t let China dominate. They’re making too much progress as it is.”
Trump also said he would fire the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on day one of his presidency if he won the election. “On day one I will fire Gary Gensler,” Trump said, to cheers of approval from the audience.
Gensler is a well-known skeptic of cryptocurrencies, despite helping them in January by approving exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a basket of assets that can be bought and sold like stocks on an exchange, which track the price of bitcoin.
The SEC chairman said in a ETF Approval Statement that bitcoin was a “speculative and volatile” asset used for illegal activities, including ransomware and terrorist financing. Since 2023, the SEC has launched more than 40 Enforcement actions related to cryptocurrencies.
Speaking at the Bitcoin convention, Trump said he would establish a presidential cryptocurrency advisory council and create a national Bitcoin “reserve” using cryptocurrencies held by the U.S. government that were largely confiscated in law enforcement actions.
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“Never sell your bitcoins,” Trump said. “If elected, it will be the policy of my administration, the policy of the United States of America, to retain 100% of all bitcoins that the U.S. government currently owns or acquires in the future.”
The Financial Times also reported on Saturday that Harris’s advisers had reached out to major cryptocurrency firms in an attempt to “reset” the relationship between the Democratic Party and the sector. Contacts had been made with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, stablecoin firm Circle and blockchain payments group Ripple Labs, according to the FT.
