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Investors have been speculating for months about the impact of the U.S. presidential election on crypto markets, and the value of both crypto and crypto-related stocks soared on Wednesday as results were finalized. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) had the biggest symbolic move, climbing 8.5% in the past 24 hours as of 10 a.m. ET, but some stocks made bigger moves.
Shares of Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) jumped as much as 12.2% in early trading, Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) was up a whopping 20.1%, and MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) was up 14.7%. Shares are up 8.6%, 15.3%, and 10.4% respectively as I'm writing around 10:30 a.m.
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Bitcoin's big bounce
The move in MicroStrategy is correlated directly to Bitcoin given the company's leveraged position in the token. And CEO Michael Saylor has said he wants to continue buying Bitcoin with the company's balance sheet, so a continued move higher for Bitcoin would be good for the company.
Robinhood and Coinbase would benefit more indirectly from increased crypto trading on their platforms. Coinbase has seen a surge in trading volume on the Coinbase exchange over the past 24 hours to $6.1 billion from a typical range of between $1 billion and $2 billion per day. Higher volume and volatility will ultimately drive Coinbase's exchange business, which still accounts for most of its revenue.
Robinhood could also get a boost from trading given the 33% drop in crypto trading volume in the third quarter of 2024. Crypto only accounts for about $20 billion of the $152 billion the company has under custody, but if it's a growth business, it will help revenue and the bottom line.
Regulatory clarity ahead?
The bigger upside would be potential regulatory clarity for crypto from a combination of new laws passed by Congress and more friendly regulators, particularly at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has gone after most crypto companies and token creators in the past few years with little success in court, but it's caused a freeze of development and innovation in the U.S. Clarity around what's legal and what isn't would be welcome for everyone in the industry and investors are hoping Donald Trump in the White House will lead to this clarity.
Exactly what clarity could result in is uncertain, but companies like Coinbase have been building infrastructure tools like the Base blockchain, smart wallets, and a developer platform for others to build on top of. If financial transactions or asset ownership records move to the blockchain, it could unlock massive growth potential for the company on top of higher trading.