Investing.com-- Bitcoin’s price climbed on Tuesday after Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris pledged to support a regulatory framework for crypto, while the prospect of delayed distributions by Mt Gox also buoyed sentiment.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency traded slightly above the $50,000 to $65,000 trading range seen through most of the year. But it did come off highs hit over the weekend.
Bitcoin rose 1.2% to $65,749.0 by 08:32 ET (12:32 GMT).
Harris pledges crypto regulatory framework
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday pledged to support a regulatory framework for crypto, including allowing black men easier access to the industry. But the details of her planned framework were not immediately clear.
Still, Harris’ pledge marked one of her first mentions of crypto policy in recent campaigning efforts, and sparked some hopes that she will not extend the Biden Administration’s crackdown against the industry.
Harris is set for a tight presidential race against Republican nominee Donald Trump, with roughly three weeks left to the ballot. Trump has so far maintained a largely pro-crypto stance, and even as several crypto-related business ventures, of which World Liberty Financial is set to launch next week.
Harris’ pledge also helped traders look past concerns over more regulatory moves against crypto, after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued a major crypto market maker last week.
Mt Gox postpones token distribution
Bitcoin clocked a weekend rally after the trustees of defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox postponed plans to return stolen Bitcoins to creditors by a year.
The defunct exchange, which reportedly held nearly $10 billion worth of tokens, had begun returning tokens to creditors in July. The exchange signaled last week that it will conclude token distributions only by end-October 2025.
Mt Gox’s token distributions had initially sparked steep losses in Bitcoin, given that the distributions entailed increased Bitcoin supplies and more selling pressure on prices.
But a staggered distribution presents less immediate selling pressure on Bitcoin.
Crypto price today: Altcoins see slight gains
Broader cryptocurrency tracked gains in Bitcoin. World no. 2 crypto Ether rose 2.1% to $2,593.37
SOL, XRP and ADA each rose less than 1%, while MATIC marginally fell.
Among meme tokens, DOGE added 0.8%
But despite recent gains, most crypto tokens were nursing losses in the past two weeks, amid a dearth of any major positive cues for the industry.
Bitcoin may surge close to $74k before US election, Standard Chartered (OTC:SCBFF) says
Bitcoin is showing signs of upward momentum that could drive it toward $73,800 before the U.S. presidential election, Standard Chartered analysts said in a recent note.
The bank attributes the potential price surge to several factors, including a steepening U.S. Treasury yield curve, growing interest in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and increasing chances of Donald Trump winning the upcoming election.
"For bitcoin the combined factors mean a bleed up towards the all-time high of $73,800 looks likely pre-election," analysts wrote in a note seen by CoinDesk.
They pointed out that bitcoin and other digital assets have "finally started to rise" following the steepening of the 2s10s yield curve, which reflects the gap between 2-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields. This shift, spurred by stronger-than-expected U.S. CPI data released on Thursday, signals heightened market volatility and the potential for further interest rate hikes—factors that often increase demand for assets like bitcoin.
Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.