Trump’s presidential odds soar to all-time high on Polymarket following assassination attempt

Following a foiled assassination attempt, former US President Donald Trump’s odds of winning the upcoming US presidential election have risen to a record high, according to bettors on decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket.

Trump, who was injured in a gun attack at a rally in Pennsylvania, was found to have a 70 percent increase in his chances of winning the upcoming presidential election, up about 10 points, on a website called Polymarket, which allows betting on various events with crypto money.

Betting on Donald Trump winning the US presidential election | Source: Polymarket

A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed the Republican presidential candidate’s safety after the incident, The New York Times reported. According to the publication, the fight resulted in the deaths of a suspected attacker and a passerby.

In the aftermath, defiant images and videos of Trump making fist gestures with a bloodied face went viral on social media, amid weeks of public discourse focused on the missteps and perceived weaknesses of his opponent, incumbent President Joe Biden.

Following the incident, Trump-related meme tokens, known as “PoliFi” tokens, witnessed a surge. For example, MAGA rose 47% in 24 hours to $9.32, while TREMP rose 22% to $0.4866, according to data from crypto.news.

Meanwhile, BODEN, a meme coin inspired by President Joe Biden, fell 21% to $0.03181 during the same period. While these tokens are popular for speculating on election results, they do not offer holders any actual payouts if their associated candidates win.

Biden’s chances of winning the election in Polymarket are currently at 16 percent.

Trump, who promised to support Bitcoin if he wins the 2024 presidential election on November 5, will be a speaker at the Bitcoin conference to be held later this month.

“I will ensure that the future of Bitcoin is shaped in the United States and not pushed abroad. I will defend the right to self-preservation,” Trump said in Washington, DC, last month.

The Biden administration has never interfered with the affairs of law-abiding cryptocurrency holders.

Trump has become increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies after generating revenue from digital trading card non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and announced his support for the industry in late May.

It has also started accepting campaign donations in various digital currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE).

After Trump narrowly escaped a Pennsylvania rally where a bullet grazed his ear, the price of Bitcoin surged from previous lows of $53,000 this month to over $60,000 per unit. At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency was trading at $59,970.