First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Nears $70K Following Trump’s 2024 BTC Speech

Crypto Market Update for July 29, 2024

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Bitcoin (BTC) surged to nearly $70,000 early in the European morning, its highest level since early June, following a rally in the crypto market after Donald Trump’s appearance at BTC 2024 in Nashville on Saturday. The Republican presidential candidate announced plans to establish a strategic BTC reserve if elected in November. Bitcoin is currently trading around $69,650, up 2.5% in the last 24 hours. The broader digital asset market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index, has risen by approximately 3%, with bitcoin cash (BCH) leading the gains, climbing over 15% to $453.

During his BTC 2024 speech, Trump vowed to “never sell” the U.S. government’s seized bitcoin and announced his intention to maintain a “strategic national bitcoin reserve.” He emphasized the importance of embracing digital assets, stating, “If we don’t do it, China will do it.” Trump compared the current state of crypto to the steel industry 100 years ago, predicting it could one day surpass gold. He also warned that a Democratic victory in the upcoming election would be detrimental to crypto, claiming, “If they win this election, every one of you will be gone.” If elected, Trump plans to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler on his first day in office, a promise that was met with enthusiastic applause from the crowd. “I didn’t know he was that unpopular,” Trump remarked.

Meanwhile, COMP, the native token of the lending protocol Compound, dropped over 6% due to a potential “governance attack” on the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that manages the protocol. A governance attack occurs when an attacker gains sufficient voting power in a DAO to manipulate the protocol for personal benefit. The attack on Compound involved coordinated efforts to influence the platform’s decision-making process through significant COMP token delegations led by a whale named Humpy, who aimed to allocate $24 million worth of COMP to a yield-bearing protocol he controls called goldCOMP, managed by a group known as Golden Boys. After multiple attempts, the latest attempt succeeded.

Chart of the Day

  • Bitcoin has finally surpassed resistance from the trendline connecting the March and April highs.
  • The breakout could attract momentum traders, potentially paving the way for new all-time highs.
  • Source: TradingView