Bitcoin analyst: Trump's victory in the election will drive Bitcoin prices up in the short term

Hillary or Trump?

Despite the American people's indecision about who will be the president, Bitcoin investors and analysts generally believe that if Trump wins the election, the price of Bitcoin will rise, although the increase will be limited.

When the UK decided to leave the EU in June this year, many analysts also believed that it would stimulate uncertainty, which led to a nearly $100 increase in the price of Bitcoin.

Analysts pointed out that if Hillary is elected, there will be no major changes in the digital currency market, but Trump's election may affect global investors. According to a previous independent research report, traders currently seem to largely believe that Trump will be a promoter of Bitcoin business.

Jacob Eliosoff, a cryptocurrency hedge fund manager, told CoinDesk:

“I think a Trump victory would be good for Bitcoin, just like a nuclear war would be good for Bitcoin. Trump would be an epic disaster in so many areas — the economy, geopolitics, democracy would all be thrown into fear and chaos, and people would turn to Bitcoin as a defensive asset.”

In addition, analysts are not very worried about the possible consequences of Trump. They said that Trump's victory would significantly promote digital currencies, but the magnitude would not be too large.

Tim Enneking, another cryptocurrency hedge fund manager, said that if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wins the election, it will have "little to no" impact on the price of bitcoin. If anything, he said, the digital currency's price would likely "fall slightly."

Some political observers have predicted that if Hillary becomes president, her policy stances will likely largely continue President Obama's policies. Some predict that the uncertainty that Clinton will bring to the White House will be very limited.

Others believe that Clinton will be good for the development of the public blockchain market, as she has publicly supported the technology in previous speeches as part of her technology innovation policy. However, her policy towards the blockchain ecosystem, including Bitcoin, is still unclear.

The Trump Effect

Although Trump has not included digital currencies on his agenda, he has positioned himself as an outsider in Washington, which traders believe could cause a lot of uncertainty.

Enneking predicted that this would likely only temporarily boost bitcoin prices and not have a lasting effect.

“Trump will certainly increase uncertainty in the United States and, to some extent, even globally, which will provide a short-term boost to Bitcoin prices.”

Petar Zivkovski, head of operations at leveraged Bitcoin trading platform Whaleclub, also believes that the uncertainty brought by Trump will have a short-term impact on Bitcoin prices.

He added:

“I don’t think large institutions are going to pump a lot of money into Bitcoin just because Trump might be elected president.”

Even some who have not indicated which candidate will drive market growth are prepared for an increase in Bitcoin trading.

For example, Mark Lamb, CEO of UK-based Coinfloor, noted that he expects the outcome of the U.S. election to lead to an increase in Bitcoin trading, regardless of who wins.

Non-traditional assets

However, it is generally believed that any boost to Bitcoin will further solidify its status as a new non-traditional 'safe haven' asset in times of financial crisis.

For example, ARK Invest’s Chris Burniske stressed that Bitcoin could prove itself useful for those seeking to diversify their portfolios during uncertain times, and that this election will further confirm this.

He said:

“This lack of correlation between Bitcoin price trends and other capital markets is exactly what many investors are looking for during times of uncertainty. Depending on how people feel about the election, investors may choose to use Bitcoin as a hedge against more traditional markets.”

Bobby Lee, CEO of Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCC, said he is not worried about the outcome of the election and asserted that Bitcoin will be adopted as a financial tool regardless of the outcome.

Lee told CoinDesk:

“Regardless of who wins the election, the number of people investing in Bitcoin will increase because of its limited supply, decentralized nature, and immutability.”