Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Drops to $63K as Stocks Rout Continues, Biden Dropout Speculation Intensifies
Cryptocurrency markets were once again in the red on Wednesday, coupled with the continued decline in US stock prices and speculation over the presidential election race.
BTC fell from $65,000 to $63,500 in just two hours during mid-morning trading in the US, and is down 1.7% over the past 24 hours. The second-largest cryptocurrency is ether (ETH) and Solana’s native token (SUN) held up slightly better, although each of them also fell more than 1%.
Smaller digital assets fell further, sending the broad market benchmark index Coindesk Index 20 (CD20) lower by 2.8%. Leading the decline were 5%-6% declines for Ripple’s XRP (XRP)Polkadot DOT (POINT)Cardano’s (ADA) and the Polygon token (MATIC).
The price action came as U.S. stocks proved unable to recover from sizable declines earlier this week, with the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 down another 1% and the broad-based S&P 500 down 0.7%.
Uncertainty over the US presidential election has increased significantly in recent hours amid reports of growing pressure from senior party figures for President Biden not to seek re-election.
Traders in the Cryptocurrency-Based Prediction Market Polymarket we now see an 80% chance of Biden dropping out, up from 40% the day before. Meanwhile, chances for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee for the presidential race jumped from 15% to 63% the day before.
The rally in cryptocurrency prices last week was driven in part by investors who saw an increasing likelihood of Trump winning the election and, with it, a much more crypto-friendly administration in the US.