Cryptocurrencies slipped to begin the final week of July as traders digested a slew of political developments that took place over the weekend and looked ahead to central bank meetings this week.
Bitcoin fell more than 1% Monday, trading at $67,264.00, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $69,982.00. Ether also pared gains, but rose rose more than 1% to $3,311.28. Bitcoin ended last week with a 1% gain and ether dropped 7%.
Traders are watching the Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and the Bank of England – all of which are meeting this week. Eyes are on Fed Chair Jerome Powell in particular, with hope his comments will confirm an interest rate cut in September.
Elsewhere, former President Donald Trump delivered a highly anticipated speech over the weekend at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, taking aim at Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and the Biden administration at large. Trump faulted the officials for the ways he said they’ve harmed the industry by failing to provide rules and regulations for it to operate in and thrive.
He also said it would be his policy to keep 100% of the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds (about 210,000 bitcoins), serving as the beginning of a National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. In remarks that garnered the biggest roar from the audience, Trump vowed that he would replace Gensler “on day one.”
On the same day, Cynthia Lummis, the pro-bitcoin Republican senator from Wyoming, announced she would introduce a bill in the coming days that would pave the way for the bitcoin reserve, implementing a 1-million-unit bitcoin purchase program over a set period of time to acquire a total stake of approximately 5% of total bitcoin supply.
Democrat outreach to crypto
The price of bitcoin dipped about 1% during the speech but climbed back into the green shortly after. Noelle Acheson, economist and author of the “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter, said she’s doubtful the weekend’s events are driving the action for long-term investors, at least at this point.
“Both Trump’s comments and Lummis’ bill will be really hard to get through Congress,” she said. “More overlooked but with a higher potential impact is the news that [Vice President Kamala Harris’] team is reaching out to crypto industry representatives.
“This signals a more meaningful likely shift in policy, especially if it leads to VP Harris distancing herself from the old guard of Senator Warren et. al. In other words, the likelihood that SEC Chair Gensler will be substituted soon just went up,” Acheson added.
Over the weekend the Financial Times reported that Harris’ advisors are approaching crypto companies to ”‘reset’ relations between her Democratic party and a sector that has come out as an important backer of Donald Trump.”
Crypto has become an issue of increasing interest in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The Trump team is hoping the niche but growing crypto vote will help get him elected given key Democrats’ hostility toward the space.
However, the industry has growing bipartisan support in Congress.
Over the weekend, more than a dozen House Democrats and several more candidates for congressional seats signed a letter to the Democratic National Committee encouraging a “forward-looking approach” to crypto that would include adding “pro-digital asset language” to the party’s platform and selecting an SEC chair that would foster innovation in crypto.
