Bitcoin price rises and meme coins surge after Trump attack on rally

Bitcoin price surged on Saturday immediately after reports emerged that former U.S. President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee for the 2024 election, was attacked at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin’s price rose from a price of $58,337 to $59,796 in less than an hour. This is the highest price Bitcoin has recorded in the last week, although it has dropped to $59,524 at the time of writing.

But Bitcoin’s gains seem incredibly modest compared to the biggest Trump-inspired meme coins, all of which saw dramatic price jumps after the news broke. At the time of writing, TREMP has held the biggest gains, up 71% in the past 24 hours at a price of $0.66. TRUMP is up 39% today, while MAGA is up 33%.

Trump was giving a speech at a campaign rally when loud noises reportedly similar to gunshots or explosions rang out. The former president grabbed his ear. He ducked to the ground and was immediately surrounded by Secret Service agents before getting back up with a bloody face.

The Secret Service has declared Trump is safe. CNN reports that law enforcement sources consider the incident to be an attempted murder and that sources within the Secret Service say the shooter was killed by the agency.

The prices of meme coins are highly volatile and can be influenced by social media sentiment and real-world events, so it’s no surprise that the Trump-inspired tokens have skyrocketed. But why would the price of Bitcoin rise following this news?

Trump has been vocally pro-crypto in recent months, setting himself apart from his challenger in the upcoming election, current President Joe Biden. Some crypto investors and bettors expect his survival of an apparent assassination attempt to benefit his campaign in the coming months – and if he wins the election, crypto advocates expect regulation to go more smoothly than it would if Biden were to run for a second term.

Bettors on leading crypto prediction platform Polymarket have been pushing Trump’s chances of winning the election up from 60% before the attack to as high as 71% shortly after. The odds currently stand at 67%, while Biden is given a 15% chance by bettors. Polymarket said Trump’s odds hit an all-time high on Saturday.