Investing.com– Bitcoin’s price rose on Wednesday, steadying near a 2-½ month high on hopes that the 2024 U.S. elections will yield friendlier regulations, while improving capital inflows also boosted prices.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency appeared to have broken out of a $50,000 to $65,000 trading range seen through most of the year, and was now about $7000 away from making new record highs.
Sentiment was also boosted earlier this week by defunct exchange Mt Gox extending its timeline for returning stolen tokens to creditors.
rose 2.3% to $67,099.1 by 01:22 ET (05:22 GMT).
Bitcoin buoyed by US regulatory hopes
Sentiment towards crypto improved this week after Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris pledged to form a definite regulatory framework for crypto, although she did not elaborate on the details.
Harris’ pledge marked a crypto-friendly stance from both major frontrunners for the next U.S. president, with Republican nominee Donald Trump having maintained a largely pro-crypto stance in recent campaigning.
Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto project went live this week, with reports stating that it raised at least $220 million in token sales.
Trump also appeared to have recovered some ground against Harris, recent polls showed, spurring bets that a Trump presidency will better serve crypto interests.
Still, polls point to a tight presidential race, with about three weeks left to the ballot.
Crypto investment products see weekly inflows
Data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed crypto products saw inflows of $407 million in the week to October 13, with a bulk of them directed towards Bitcoin. This came after assets clocked mild outflows in the prior week.
CoinShares said the inflows were driven by increased speculation over a potential Trump victory in the 2024 elections, which helped crypto markets weather recent shifts in expectations for U.S. interest rates.
Crypto price today: altcoins less cheery than Bitcoin
Broader crypto prices were mixed, with major altcoins mostly lagging Bitcoin. World no.2 crypto rose 0.8% to $2,616.78.
, and fell between 1% and 1.5%, while fell slightly.
Among meme tokens, rose 1.4%.