Bettors on the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket expected few mentions of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin BTC/USD in the hotly anticipated presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
What happened: The odds of Republican hopeful Trump uttering the words stood at 14% as of this writing, significantly down from 23% seen on Sunday.
Wagers worth more than $129,000 were placed on the probability of the occurrence, higher than some of the other burning topics like abortion and border security.
The odds of Harris mentioning cryptocurrency and Bitcoin was at 10%, a decline from 14% seen during the weekend.
Trump continued to lead Harris in presidency betting odds, with bettors expecting a 52% chance of the Republican winning the race for the White House.
Polymarket, built atop Ethereum’s ETH/USD Layer-2 chain, Polygon MATIC/USD, has emerged as one of the world's top prediction markets for U.S. elections in the last few months. The novel initiative allows users to bet on major global events using cryptocurrencies.
Why It Matters: The upcoming debate will be the second of this election cycle and the first between Trump and Harris, who replaced incumbent Joe Biden following his withdrawal from the race after the first presidential debate.
Notably, the last debate between Biden and Trump saw no mentions of cryptocurrency or Bitcoin.
The outcome of the election was expected to have serious implications for Bitcoin's price, according to a Bernstein report.
A Trump victory could propel Bitcoin to new heights, potentially reaching $80,000 to $90,000 by the end of Q4, the report said, citing the former president's vocal support for the asset class.
On the contrary, a Harris presidency could witness the leading cryptocurrency dropping to the $30,000 to $40,000 range. The analysis identified the absence of cryptocurrency mentions in the Vice President’s speeches and policy pronouncements as a contributing cause to the uncertainty.
While Harris has not shown her stance on cryptocurrencies, her campaign team has tried to engage with top industry names like Coinbase and also earned the support of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen.
Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock.com
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