Cardano Rallies as Trump Rumors Spark Investor Hopes

Other altcoins like Ethereum (ETH) also surged, which allowed its market cap to surpass Bank of America’s. Bitcoin (BTC) also reached a new all-time high, which boosted MicroStrategy’s holdings to over $20 billion in value. It also helped with the gains of  other major BTC holders, including Bhutan and El Salvador. Additionally, crypto exchanges saw an impressive increase in traffic throughout October, which was also likely driven by increased participation ahead of the 2024 presidential election in the United States.

Cardano’s Price Rebounds in November

This year has been quite turbulent for Cardano (ADA) so far, and it even ranked as one of 2024’s worst-performing cryptocurrencies with losses of more than 40% through October. However, November was a big turning point for the altcoin after ADA regained almost half a year’s worth of declines in just a week. The sudden recovery fueled a lot of optimism, and now some analysts believe ADA could eye potential gains of over 100% by March 2025.

ADA’s price action over the past week (Source: CoinMarketCap)

The recent price surge in ADA was part of the broader crypto market rally that was triggered by the reelection of pro-crypto candidate Donald Trump on Nov. 6. This momentum was boosted even more because of speculative rumors surrounding Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, and his possible involvement in the Trump administration’s 2025 plans.

Despite the excitement, Hoskinson has not confirmed any official role in a federal crypto policy initiative. In a recent YouTube livestream, he clarified that while Cardano is establishing an office to encourage dialogue with government officials, there has been no formal invitation from Trump’s team. 

Trump has also still not announced the creation of a dedicated cryptocurrency policy group. This could mean that ADA’s recent price boost was largely driven by market speculation about Hoskinson’s potential government involvement.

ETH Market Cap Tops Bank of America

Cardano is not the only altcoin enjoying gains after the Trump election win. Ethereum (ETH), which is the world’s second-largest altcoin by market cap, surged to $3,200 on Nov. 10, which was its highest level since August. This happened after Bitcoin was able to jump past $79,000 in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. 

ETH’s price action over the past week (Source: CoinMarketCap)

According to CoinMarketCap data, ETH’s current price of $3,183.13 drove its market cap up to $383 billion. Interestingly, this positions it about $40 billion above Bank of America’s market cap. This certainly proves that blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi) is seriously challenging traditional finance.

The interest towards DeFi and digital assets will very likely gain even more momentum as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers the first options tied to spot Ether ETFs. This could potentially make crypto a lot more accessible to mainstream investors. 

Although Ethereum saw some impressive price movement and was able to achieve its largest weekly gains since May, ETH’s supply recently turned inflationary, rising at an annual rate of 0.424% after experiencing deflation earlier in October. According to Ultrasound.money, ETH’s burn rate sits at 452,000 ETH per year, while its issuance rate has grown to 957,000 ETH, indicating an annual net supply increase.

The crypto community’s sentiment about ETH’s trajectory is still a bit cautiously optimistic. Some analysts on X predict a new all-time high (ATH) very soon. One analyst believes ETH could “breeze through $4k,” while crypto analyst Poseidon predicts a brief pullback before a potential surge past the $4,300 mark. 

Adding to this evolving narrative, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin introduced “info finance” on Nov. 9. Info Finance is described as a new discipline that uses prediction markets to gather public expectations. It is intended to collect insights on future events while minimizing media bias, which allows the community to make more informed decisions based on collective intelligence.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Stash Tops $20 Billion

Companies and countries that invested in crypto are also faring quite well after the elections. MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings surpassed $20 billion in value after Bitcoin’s price rallied above $80,000, which was a huge milestone for the business and the crypto itself. 

MicroStrategy portfolio tracker (Source: Saylor Tracker)

The company currently holds 252,220 BTC, which is worth close to $20.69 billion. This means that MicroStrategy’s investment strategy has generated more than 107% returns, according to “Saylor Tracker,” which is named after executive chairman Michael Saylor. The company bought Bitcoin 42 times at a dollar-cost average of $39,292, which means that Micro Strategy is the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, outpacing Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms.

Looking ahead, MicroStrategy plans to raise an additional $42 billion under its “21/21” plan. The plan is to add $21 billion in equity and $21 billion in fixed-income securities for further Bitcoin acquisitions over the next three years.

The Bitcoin surge also benefited other major holders, including the Kingdom of Bhutan, whose Bitcoin assets now exceed $1 billion. This is 32% of the nation’s $3.15 billion GDP. Bhutan embraced Bitcoin mining as a strategic reserve, and wants to align its financial growth with cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, El Salvador’s 5,930 BTC holdings are now worth more than $482 million, yielding an 80% return on investment with $214 million in unrealized profits. El Salvador started accumulating Bitcoin two months before Bitcoin’s peak in 2021. Despite initial criticism after the market downturn in 2022, the country stuck with its dollar-cost averaging approach of buying 1 Bitcoin daily. El Salvador also still accumulates BTC through its passport program and volcanic-powered Bitcoin mining initiative.

Crypto Exchange Traffic Soars

Cumulative monthly traffic to the top 20 crypto exchanges rose by 8% in October. This was a  reflection of the increasing investor interest and retail participation ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections. 

Data from ICO Analytics shows that Pump.Fun led in month-over-month traffic growth with a 100% increase, followed by BullX at 78% and Uniswap at 42%. Binance, WhiteBit, and Coinbase saw the highest total traffic volumes, recording 54 million, 33 million, and 30 million visits, respectively. This uptick in exchange traffic contributed to a much broader crypto market rally that aligned with the well known “uptober” narrative, where crypto markets typically see gains after summer stagnation.

Web traffic to crypto exchanges in October (Source: ICO Analytics)

After the November election results, Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of $81,682. Several factors now suggest that this rally may be sustainable. Some of the key indicators include a $1.1 billion increase in open interest on Bitcoin futures contracts at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, expectations of lower interest rates, and strong inflows into Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF recorded its highest trading day with $4.1 billion in volume last week. This was spurred by the victory of Donald Trump.

Additional evidence of bullish market sentiment includes a surge in stablecoin inflows, which are seen as a measure of market interest. In fact, on Nov. 7, stablecoin inflows reached $9.3 billion as Bitcoin’s price continued to climb. The rally has also shifted investor sentiment toward Ethereum after its price broke above $3,000 and inflows into Ethereum ETFs turned positive after a long slump.