- Joe Biden endorsed his vice, Kamala Harris moments after his pullout
- Bitcoin dropped by 2.8% to about $65,800 immediately after the announcement
- A number of analysts suggest that Biden’s pullout will benefit crypto assets in the months to come
On Sunday, July 21, 2024, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced that he was dropping out of the November 2024 presidential election race. This means he would not have a chance to be elected for a second term, and the acclaimed rematch with the Republican Party nominee and former president Donald Trump will no longer hold.
Why did Biden drop out of the November presidential election?
In a statement, Biden said, “I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We've protected and preserved our Democracy. And we've revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Moments after announcing his decision, Biden endorsed his vice, Kamala Harris, to take on the flag and defeat Donald Trump. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump,” he posted on X.
How will Biden’s withdrawal from US presidential race impact the crypto market?
Shortly after Biden announced his withdrawal, the crypto market reacted: the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, sharply dropped by 2.8% to about $65,800 and bounced back almost immediately and was trading at $67,208 at the time of writing. The coin had crossed the $68,000 mark earlier in the day.
The 24-hour volume of trade of the coin has surged by 64.42% to $29.59 billion and the market cap of the coin has increased by 0.59% to $1.33 trillion, according to Coinmarketcap.
Bitcoin's 24-hour price movement. Source: TradingView
Market-wide, 24-hour trading volume increased by 46.91% to $73.31 billion while the market cap increased by 0.56% to $2.45 trillion.
A number of analysts suggest that Biden’s pullout will benefit crypto assets in the months to come. One of those analysts is eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert. He said, via Cointelegraph, Biden’s withdrawal from the race is a “win for crypto assets,” and added that the chances of Trump being reelected is a “huge boost for the asset class.”
According to him, “The longer that we see Trump staying ahead in the election odds, the more crypto assets will price in his victory.”
Explaining further, Gilbert said:
“It’s difficult to envision Kamala Harris or another Democrat candidate overturning Trump’s lead in the polls with just three months left in this election race, but a lot can happen in that time frame, so nothing is off the cards.”
On the flip side, Swyftx analyst Pav Hundal does not totally agree with Gilbert’s position. He said that while the pullout may benefit the market in some ways, it is unlikely that it will lead to a significant bull run.
“Learning from the Bitcoin ETF experience, we could see a temporary stalling of prices before the uptrend continues,” said Hundal. “This recent surge might be attributed to early Ethereum ETF speculation, and it’s important for investors to stay cautious and not get overly excited in the short term.”
For Gary Black, managing partner at The Future Fund, Trump is far from winning and the impact on crypto may not be as profound as expected.
“Those who think Trump/Vance will win by a landslide are getting ahead of themselves. The American public doesn’t trust Trump after the events of Jan 6th,” he posted on X.
“I was no fan of Biden or Kamala, but Dems could still nominate Newsom, Michelle Obama or another leading Dem to be their presidential candidate. My point: It’s too early to have such high conviction about a second Trump presidency.”
How hackers stole more than $230 million from crypto exchange WazirX in hours
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that recently, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX, was cyber-attacked and more than $230 million was stolen by the attackers. Speculation had spread about what actually happened and why the breach was so easy for the attackers. Now, the exchange has opened up about what exactly transpired and what the next steps are for the company.
In an X post, the exchange described the attack as unfortunate and stated its commitment to transparency and community welfare.
