Aaron Brown, Columnist

Trump May Be Good for Crypto — But Bad for Bitcoin

Trump’s win and Republican Senate gains are bullish for the industry, but not necessarily for the long-term value of the most famous digital currency.

November 13, 2024 at 10:30 AM UTC

By Aaron Brown

Aaron Brown is a former head of financial market research at AQR Capital Management. He is also an active crypto investor, and has venture capital investments and advisory ties with crypto firms. He is the author of the soon-to-be-released "Wrong Number."

Crypto gateway.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

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The price of Bitcoin has jumped by more than $20,000 since the Nov. 5 elections in the US, with about one-third of the gains coming with favorable early results for Republicans, and the rest trickling in as Donald Trump’s victory became certain and his party continued to pick up seats in the Senate and House of Representatives.

It’s easy to see why Republican victories are good for crypto. Trump boasted he would be a pro-crypto president, pledged to prevent the federal government from selling the crypto it acquires (mainly in seizures from criminals) as it currently does, said he would fire crypto-skeptic Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, push the US to dominate Bitcoin mining, and promised to appoint a crypto advisory council so rules will be written by cryptophiles rather than cryptophobes. He celebrated election night with well-known crypto boosters including Elon Musk, Robert Kennedy Jr. and Howard Lutnick.

But it’s important to separate things that are good for Bitcoin specifically from things that are good for crypto in general — and possibly bad for Bitcoin.