Despite the uncertainties that have come to characterise the US election which started on Tuesday 3 November, the bitcoin market appears not to be losing sleep as the price moved towards $14,000.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency was exchanging hands at $13,807 on the Coinmarketcap.
The 24-hour trading volume on Wednesday stood at $32,281,055,255 bitcoin. This means bitcoin is up 2.09 percent in the last 24 hours.
It is the second time bitcoin is making a push for $14,000 this week. On Tuesday the cryptocurrency was on the verge of breaching the level when media reports projected a victory for President Trump in key states like Florida, dashing hopes for a Democratic sweep. The price which reached $13,950 – the highest closing price since 13 January 2018, retraced to $13,530 as a sell-off accelerated.
The daily high was $13,984.98, with bulls again testing $14,000 to no avail. The daily low was $13,325.44, which is the lowest daily low since 30 October.
The world’s largest economy, the United States of America is on the verge of electing a new President and the position is being hotly contested by the incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Joseph Biden of the Democratic Party.
While many of the votes called so far seem to be favoring the democratic presidential candidate, President Trump appeared on national television to claim victory and asked the country’s Supreme Court to order a stop in the counting of votes.
Trump’s position not only sent shock waves to the international community who now anticipate a post-election crisis should Biden win the US presidency, but the stock market has also been rattled by the statements from the White House. While global stock slumped as a result of election uncertainties and rising COVID-19 cases, bitcoin has climbed 28 percent.
“Bitcoin will be the winner tonight,” said Tyler Winklevoss, a bitcoin investor.
Meanwhile, bitcoin investors surveyed by Coinmarketcap on their sentiments for the market should any of the candidates win, many said they believe a President Trump win will be key for the market.
However, a report from Coindesk said the market has remained mostly unengaged by any of the candidates. But it thinks the election will have a significant impact on how laws and regulations governing the crypt space are determined over the next four years.
On its part, the crypto community has had little to do with the election in terms of donations, unlike venture capital firms which made donations to candidates they favoured. Chinese employees reportedly donated nearly half of their funds, totaling just under $45,000 with a16z coming in second at $24,000.
Bitcoin’s market capitalisation as of Tuesday was $258,541,441,764, up from $251,119,864,445 the day before. That’s Bitcoin’s highest market cap since 7 January 2018.
