Bitcoin climbed back above $80,400 on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate, shrugging off fears that a blue sweep in the midterm election would hurt the crypto industry.
The cryptocurrency recovered from an overnight low of $75,618, its weakest level in seven weeks . XRP rose 2.3% to about $1.31, at the time of writing.
Hack hurt more than the vote
For bitcoin, the midterm sell-off was milder than the hit from Binance's record hack a week ago. On Oct. 29, hackers drained about $6.34 billion from Binance in roughly 20 minutes . Bitcoin fell more than 4% to $77,994 the next day .
Crypto stocks took a bigger beating. Coinbase sank 10.6%, Circle 9.3% and Strategy 7.8% that session , and bitcoin then struggled to reclaim $80,000.
The midterm reaction was a quick dip and rebound. While a blue wave was expected, the Binance hack came as a shock.
Related: Binance founder issues chilling warning after record crypto heist
Crypto's costly losses
Crypto PACs spent about $170 million on the midterms, but lost several of their biggest bets:
-
Ohio: Fairshake and its affiliates poured tens of millions into opposing Brown, who chaired Senate Banking and stalled a crypto market-structure bill in 2024.
-
Illinois: Fairshake spent over $10 million opposing Juliana Stratton in the primary. She won her Senate race on Tuesday.
-
Texas: The industry backed Paxton, who lost.
Cynthia Lummis, crypto's most vocal Senate backer, is retiring, and Democrats could investigate the Trump family's crypto dealings .
More on TheStreet Roundtable
-
Jack Dorsey-led Block's DOJ settlement overshadows Q3 profit
-
Strategy CEO puts his Bitcoin firm alongside SpaceX, Alphabet
Crypto stocks climb, miners slump
Strategy jumped 5.4% to $142.96 and Coinbase rose 2.7% to $149.40, while Robinhood added 0.7% to $86.25.
Circle slipped about 1% to $74.50. Its third-quarter revenue of $865 million beat estimates, but it disclosed a 5% workforce cut .
But Bitcoin miners and AI-hosting stocks such as Hut 8 and IREN fell 20% and 8% respectively.
What's next
Democrats will now run the House Agriculture and Financial Services committees, the two panels that handled the CLARITY Act .
The industry's market-structure bill expires Jan. 3 if lawmakers don't act.
The Roundtable 100
If you follow our market coverage, don't miss the Roundtable 100 .Updated every Friday, it's a power ranking of the 100 most investable tech stocks, including digital assets. Check out the latest RTB 100 rankings at roundtable100.com .
Related: Gold moves up 24 places on Roundtable 100 despite analyst warning
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Nov 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
