To advance crypto-friendly regulation, Trump’s party needs to win a majority in the Senate

Citi: A Republican victory would be the best outcome for Coinbase and the broader crypto market

18.10.2024 - 15:15

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4 min

What’s new? Analysts at Citi Bank believe a Republican victory in the upcoming US election would be a win for Coinbase and the broader crypto market, while a Kamala Harris victory and a divided Congress would lead to more uncertainty in the sector. The presidential election will be held on November 5 and the results will be announced on November 8.

CoinDesk’s material

What else is known? In their report, analysts noted that Republicans have publicly endorsed reform in the digital asset sector. Their leadership in the Senate would help pass bills like FIT21 and appoint cryptocurrency-friendly heads of agencies responsible for regulating the market, such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

FIT21, also known as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, has been praised by the crypto industry. FIT21 has already received approval from the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, where the majority of seats belong to Republicans.

Under the document, spot markets for digital goods will come under the jurisdiction of the CFTC, which has a reputation for being a more lenient regulator compared to the SEC.

The SEC is currently headed by Gary Gensler, who was appointed by Democrat Joe Biden. Under his leadership, the commission has filed numerous lawsuits against crypto companies, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple, while refusing to come up with clear guidelines for the sector.

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As for the upper house of Congress, the Senate, Democrats retain the majority. According to Citi analysts, if Trump wins, the situation could change and the pace of adoption of digital asset reforms would accelerate in both houses of Congress.

Citi noted that there are a number of Democrats on the House Financial Services subcommittee who are now strongly opposed to cryptocurrencies. However, they will likely still be outnumbered by a combined contingent of Democrats and Republicans in favor of cryptocurrencies.

In turn, Harris’ victory with a predominantly Republican Congress makes the fate of the crypto market less certain. The current vice president has yet to define her cryptocurrency goals, and if she wins, her administration would prefer to retain the current heads of financial agencies.

The worst-case scenario for the crypto industry, however, would be a Harris victory and a split in Congress. This could cause problems with approving friendly legislation in the Senate.

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Earlier, analysts at broker Bernstein noted that the bitcoin rate is rising along with Donald Trump’s chances of winning the election. They called MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) share price an indicator of a potential bullish breakout in the crypto market.

MicroStrategy is the largest bitcoin holder among publicly traded firms, and its stock has outperformed the S&P 500 index 14 times over the past four years in terms of return growth.

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