Bitcoin Nears $70K on Back of Trump’s Speech, Bitcoin Cash and Base Memecoins Lead Crypto Market Gains

Bitcoin Cash posted double-digit gains at the opening of the business week in Asia, despite analysts expecting it to be on the losing side of the Mt. Gox transaction.

The token has outperformed the broader CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, which is up 3.6%

Bitcoin approached $70,000 for the first time since early June in late afternoon trading in Asia after Republican candidate Donald Trump announced plans to make the asset a national strategic asset if he wins power in November.

Bitcoin Cash {{BCH}} and BRETT, a relatively new memecoin on the Base blockchain, led the crypto market gains on Monday. Meanwhile, Solana’s SOL jumped 6% and BNB Chain’s BNB, ether (ETH), and XRP rose between 2-5%, leading gains among major tokens.

BCH rose over 10% as Mt. Gox completed its distribution of tokens to its creditors, outpacing the 3.6% gain by the CoinDesk 20, a benchmark of the largest and most liquid digital assets.

CoinDesk Index data shows Bitcoin {{BTC}} is up 3% to trade above $69,500, while Ether {{ETH}} is up 4% to trade above $3,300.

According to CoinGlass data, this steady increase in the BTC price resulted in the liquidation of $13.8 million worth of short bets, while $11.4 million worth of ETH short bets were also wiped out.

In a highly anticipated speech on Saturday, Trump said that if elected in November, he would fire current SEC Chairman Gensler, create a strategic bitcoin reserve and block the U.S. from selling its bitcoin holdings. He believes the asset could one day rival gold and be “the steel industry of 100 years ago.”

Initially, some analysts believed that BCH would be the loser in the Mt. Gox transaction, on the grounds that bankruptcy bailouts would lead to a disproportionately greater inflow of BCH into the market compared to Bitcoin; however, these fears appear to be unfounded.

The market already seems to be responding positively to BRETT, the ‘mascot’ memecoin on the meme-heavy Base blockchain. BRETT is the roommate of Pepe the Frog, the comically lazy Boy’s Club character played by Matt Furie.

BRETT has gained 11% in the last 24 hours, while cat-themed memecoin POPCAT has gained 7%.

Meanwhile, Trump-themed tokens remain in the red despite the former President’s recent speech at the BTC 2024 conference in Nashville.

According to CoinGecko data, the MAGA (TRUMP) token is down 6% on the day and 18% in the past week. TREMP, on the other hand, is trading sideways with a 0.3% drop in the last 24 hours and is down almost 10% in the past week.