Bitcoin hits record, dollar gains as first US votes tallied
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The US dollar gained and Bitcoin reached a new record as results start to trickle in from the US presidential election.
The numbers: The largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin rose more than 8% to above USD75,000 ($114,600) by 2:30pm AEDT, topping the record it set in March at USD73,797.68, according to Bloomberg data.
Other tokens joined the rally, with the second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum adding 6.5% and memecoin Dogecoin surging 18%.
Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures were up 1.3%, US 10-year yields gained 17 basis points to a four-month high of 4.44% and the US dollar tracked its biggest rise since early February 2023.
The context: With polls closed in more than two-thirds of states, Republican Donald Trump had taken preliminary leads in Georgia and North Carolina, two key swing states, while vote counting in others was in its early stages.
Trump's odds of election started climbing on betting markets and national forecasting sites, strengthening the US dollar — with the greenback seen as potentially benefitting from the former president's plans to raise tariffs — and boosting Bitcoin and other tokens given his public support for crypto and relaxed regulation.
