Bitcoin Soars 4% on Rumors of Imminent RFK Dereliction

Bitcoin jumped 4% to $61,550 on Wednesday as speculation grew that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could soon drop out of the 2024 U.S. presidential race to support Donald Trump.

The news reestablished Trump as the betting favorite to win the November election, which analysts say has major implications for Bitcoin’s short-term price movements.

• As reported by ABC NewsRFK Jr. will step down by the end of the week, with sources saying he will support Trump. Contacted directly, RFK neither confirmed nor denied the rumor.
• This comes after Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan suggested in a recent podcast appearance that he and Kennedy had a difficult decision to make about whether or not to focus their efforts on Trump.
• Cryptocurrency bettors now estimate that RFK has a 97% chance of dropping out of the race before November, according to Polymarket. They also estimate that Trump has a 52% chance of winning the November election, compared to Kamala Harris’ 47%.
• On Tuesday night, Info Wars’ Alex Jones also reported that RFK would soon endorse Trump and could be considered for various positions in Trump’s cabinet.
• According to FiveThirtyEight, Harris has a 2.8% lead over Trump in national polls. Kennedy, meanwhile, is estimated at 4.9% in national polls, meaning his share of voters could swing the outcome of the election.
• The price movement in response culminated in $104 million in cryptocurrency liquidations over the past 24 hours, Coinglass shows.