Bitcoin Slumps Towards $63K as Speculation About Biden Dropout Intensifies

Crypto
markets
were
again
in
the
red
on
Wednesday
alongside
a
continued
slump
in
U.S.
equity
prices
and
swirling
speculation
about
the
presidential
election
race.

BTC
plunged
to
$63,500
from
$65,000
in
just
two
hours
during
mid-morning
trading
hours
in
the
U.S.,
and
was
down
1.7%
over
the
past
24
hours.
The
second-largest
cryptocurrency
ether

(ETH)
and
Solana’s
native
token

(SOL)
held
up
somewhat
better,
though
each
were
also
lower
by
more
than
1%.

Smaller
digital
assets
fell
even
more,
sending
the
broad-market
benchmark

Coindesk
20
Index
(CD20)
lower
by
2.8%.
Leading
the
drop
were
5%-6%
declines
for
Ripple’s
XRP

(XRP),
Polkadot’s
DOT

(DOT),
Cardano’s

(ADA)
and
Polygon’s
token

(MATIC).

The
price
action
happened
as
U.S.
equities
found
themselves
unable
to
bounce
from
sizable
declines
earlier
this
week,
with
the
tech-focused
Nasdaq
100
down
another
1%
and
the
broad-based
S&P
500
dropping
0.7%.

Uncertainty
about
the
U.S.
presidential
election
rose
markedly
in
recent
hours
amid

reports
of
mounting
pressure
from
top
party
figures
for
President
Biden
not
to
seek
re-election.

Traders
on
the
crypto-based
prediction
market

Polymarket
now
see
an
80%
chance
of
Biden
dropping
out,
up
from
40%
a
day
earlier.
Meanwhile,

odds
for
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
becoming
the
Democratic
nominee
for
the
presidential
race
jumped
to
63%
from
15%
a
day
ago.

Alongside,
GOP
nominee
Donald
Trump’s

chances
to
win
slightly
tapered
off
on
Polymarket
to
65%,
down
from
a
70%
high
after
surviving
an

assassination
attempt
last
weekend.

The
rebound
in
crypto
prices
over
the
past
week
were
in
part
fueled
by
investors
seeing
increasing
chances
for
Trump
winning
the
election
and
with
that
a
far
more
crypto-friendly
administration
in
the
U.S..