"We have a bitcoin president!" The real winner in the US election
"We have a bitcoin president!" The real winner in the US election
Crypto market executives poured $245 million into the US presidential election, and the result is a House of Representatives that overwhelmingly supports the industry. Now their expectation is for legislation tailored to their needs.
As Donald Trump celebrated his victory on November 5, the crypto community was right there with him, offering thunderous applause. "We are on the brink of a new American renaissance," wrote Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder and CEO of Gemini, a crypto exchange platform, in a post on X. "Being anti crypto is simply bad politics," wrote Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, adding, "Welcome to America's most pro-crypto Congress ever." MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor declared, "We have a Bitcoin president," while crypto-enthusiast Senator Cynthia Lummis announced plans for a Bitcoin reserve strategy. "Let's be absolutely clear, the anti-Bitcoin movement died last night. The USA will be the most pro-Bitcoin nation in the world," wrote crypto entrepreneur Dennis Porter.
Bitcoin itself responded to Trump’s victory, jumping to record of $80,000.
It may seem surprising that Trump—who once mocked Bitcoin and the crypto market—has now become a symbol of the community's resurgence. This enthusiasm is less about Trump himself, however, and more about the significant gains made by pro-crypto candidates in various House races. In recent years, particularly in the face of a hostile administration, the crypto industry has managed to build a robust group of political allies. This success is largely due to the tried-and-true method of American politics: money—and a substantial amount of it.
According to industry estimates, around $245 million was directed towards various Congressional and Senate races across both parties. Much of this funding came through a super PAC called Fairshake, which spent about $135 million in 50 different races, supported by donations from Coinbase, Ripple, and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. This represents a historic level of political investment for the crypto sector, accounting for nearly half of all corporate donations this election cycle, as reported by Public Citizen, a nonprofit tracking political contributions. No other sector comes close to matching the amount crypto advocates have invested—more than even traditional heavyweights like oil companies or banks.
The industry has good reason to celebrate. According to Stand With Crypto, an industry lobby group, 253 pro-crypto candidates were elected to the House of Representatives, compared to 115 anti-crypto candidates. In the Senate, 16 pro-crypto candidates won seats versus 12 anti-crypto candidates. The return on investment appears favorable, with Andreessen Horowitz already committing another $23 million for the 2026 election cycle, and Coinbase pledging $25 million.
With a pro-crypto House, and a president who recently promised at a crypto conference to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet," the industry is hopeful for a sharp U-turn from the regulatory pressures it faced under the Biden administration. Under Biden and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the crypto market encountered intense scrutiny, aiming to protect small investors by tightening regulations and cracking down on abuses within the market.
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During Biden's term, the crypto market suffered a major collapse, with high-profile bankruptcies and criminal charges involving figures like Alex Mashinsky of Celsius, Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, and Changpeng Zhao of Binance. Gensler’s SEC filed over 100 lawsuits against crypto companies, focusing on tokens he classified as securities—thereby requiring disclosure of risks, registration for trading, and clarity on asset backing and issuer obligations.
With the crypto community's electoral success, lobbyists are now expected to resume their push for "regulatory clarity," which many industry advocates see as passing laws that better fit the crypto market’s needs. In this case, regulatory clarity would mean stopping the classification of crypto assets as "securities" and reclassifying them as "commodities" that can be traded more freely. Such a shift would place oversight with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a smaller and less powerful body that is considered more favorable to the crypto industry than the SEC.
The Trump administration has already given the industry a boost. "The rules will be written by people who love your industry," Trump said at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville over the summer. "If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted, and manufactured in the USA." It can be assumed that Trump, in his final term, will look to leave his mark on the industry. The question now is how high the market can soar—at least until the next inevitable downturn.
