(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin is pulling ahead of stocks and gold this month, buoyed by growing indications that the US regulatory outlook for the cryptocurrency sector will improve after the upcoming presidential election.
The digital asset rose less than 1% to trade at $66,200 as of 7:12 a.m. Tuesday in Singapore, near a two-week high. The token is up 4% in October, beating an index of global shares as well as the yellow metal over the month so far.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Monday pledged to support a regulatory framework for crypto, a stance outlined amid an outreach to Black men with three weeks to go to election day. The vice president’s rival, Republican Donald Trump, has embraced the digital-asset industry in the duel for votes in a tight race. Trump is viewed as the more avowedly pro-crypto of the two candidates.
“The bump is largely election-driven, initially from Trump’s lead in both prediction markets and polls, and later from semi-supportive statements regarding crypto markets from the Harris campaign,” said Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter. “I haven’t seen detail yet on the Harris crypto policy, but it’s sounding less negative than Biden’s administration.”
Smaller tokens including second-ranked Ether and top-10 coin Solana advanced too, while crypto-linked shares such as US exchange Coinbase Global Inc. surged. Businesses including Japan’s Monex Group Inc. and Woori Technology Investment Co. in South Korea will be in the spotlight in Asia.
Prediction markets have flipped in the past few days, assigning Trump higher odds of victory than Harris. Trump has vowed to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” — an about-face given that the former president previously dubbed the sector a “scam.”
The digital-asset industry has become an influential player in the presidential election through big donations to political action committees. Crypto businesses are seeking friendlier regulations, pushing back against a crackdown by the Securities & Exchange Commission under Chair Gary Gensler.
Bitcoin on average delivered a 20% climb during October in the past decade, making the month the strongest of the year seasonally for the original cryptocurrency, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“Historical data suggests that October’s seasonal strength in crypto markets is typically weighted toward the latter half of the month,” Sean Farrell, head of digital-asset strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors LLC, wrote in a note.
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