Total Crypto Market Cap: $2.455T (+5.24%)
ETH DeFi TVL: $122.87B (+26.44%)
Stablecoins: $172.41B (+1.66%)
https://x.com/dwfventures/status/1854811357130244364?s=46&t=RN-pye1QPd-hEt8KXAVXig
The crypto industry won big in last week’s U.S. elections, unleashing euphoria in the market. President-elect Donald Trump, during the campaign, vowed ($) to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world.” Meanwhile, one of the most aggressive efforts in history to promote candidates favoring industry interests swept at least 220 pro-crypto candidates from both parties into Congress and unseated one of the industry’s most powerful opponents.
Candidate Trump pledged that the government would never sell off seized Bitcoins, using them instead to establish a national Bitcoin reserve. He said that all remaining Bitcoin will be mined in the U.S., and he will create a favorable environment for startups. Additional promises include blocking the establishment of a CBDC; protecting Americans’ rights to mine and store crypto assets; and creating a Bitcoin/crypto advisory council. He also promised to commute the life sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht for online criminal activity and fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler (see below).
Questions have been raised about conflicts of interest and about the viability of some of these proposals but, for now, the industry is celebrating.
Crypto PACs Fairshake, Protect Progress, and Defend American Jobs combined to raise and spend ($) more than $130MM on congressional races. That included $40MM in Ohio where it scored one the biggest wins. Crypto skeptic Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who held the Senate Banking Committee chair, was defeated by Bernie Moreno, a blockchain entrepreneur. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), one of the industry’s most outspoken critics, held on to her seat.
Digital asset legislation has been on pause during the election year. Bills that may gain new life include the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act from 2022, proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), which would give the CFTC exclusive oversight of the spot digital commodity market, and the Bitcoin Act of 2024, proposed by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), which would establish a Bitcoin reserve and make the U.S. the first country to use Bitcoin as “savings technology.”
The BITCOIN Act of 2024 would have the US government create a strategic bitcoin reserve, funded in part with remittances from the Federal Reserve to the Treasury.