SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Bitcoin surged to a two-week high on Monday after the attempted assassination of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump raised the odds of the former president, who has presented himself as a champion of cryptocurrency, winning the upcoming election.
Trump said he was shot in the ear during the attack at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. His campaign said he was doing well. Some investors said the attack bolstered his chances of winning back the White House and trades betting on his victory are expected to increase this week.
Bitcoin rose 8.6% to $62,508, touching a two-week high of $62,698 earlier in the session, taking its year-to-date gains to 47%.
Ether was also up 6.8%% at $3,322.
Trump is running against Democratic President Joe Biden in November's U.S. election and has slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the crypto sector. Trump presented himself as a champion for cryptocurrency during a San Francisco fundraiser in June, although he hasn't offered specifics on his proposed crypto policy.
"He's certainly positioned himself as pro-crypto and as the odds of his reelection were galvanised by the shooting on the weekend, it's certainly put a big boost underneath the bid in crypto markets and bitcoin obviously, just an absolute standout," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
Trump is due to speak at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 27, the organizers of the conference said last week.
Bitcoin had a strong start to the year after the launch of exchange-traded funds in the U.S., propelling it to a record $73,803.25 in mid-March but has since struggled. It fell to an over four month low in early July as traders fretted over the likely dumping of tokens from defunct Japanese exchange Mt. Gox.
"We had four weeks of declines on the back of the Mt. Gox news ... but the rebound, it looks to me like it's got further to go and I wouldn't be surprised seeing it head back up towards, at least towards $65,000 by the end of this week," said IG's Sycamore.