Key facts
- Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and House in the US midterm elections, the report said.
- Bitcoin briefly touched a six-week low before trading roughly flat at $78,070 at 0715 GMT, the report said.
- Binance customers had withdrawn a net $4.72 billion since the exchange reopened after the hack, the report said.
- The crypto sector has spent more than $300 million backing crypto-friendly candidates across two election cycles, the report said.
Cryptocurrencies briefly dipped on Wednesday as Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and House in the US midterm elections, according to a Reuters report dated November 4, 2026. The report described the result as a potential blow to an industry that has pushed for faster deregulation of digital assets.
The sector has spent more than $300 million backing crypto-friendly Democrats and Republicans in roughly equal measure during the current and previous election cycles, the report said, hoping to pass legislation US crypto companies say would put them on a solid legal footing.
Bitcoin briefly touched a six-week low before recovering to trade roughly flat at $78,070 at 0715 GMT, the report said. Ether traded at $2,292, up 1%. Bitcoin has fallen around 41% since hitting record highs above $122,000 in October 2025, the report said, bringing the value of the broader crypto market to around $2.61 billion according to CoinMarketCap.
The market has lost some $300 billion in value in the last month, the report said, as concern about future returns from AI and rising borrowing costs pushed investors into less risky assets such as government bonds and currencies. Sentiment was also hurt by the $6 billion hack of the Binance platform last week, which the report called the largest heist in history.
Binance customers had withdrawn a net $4.72 billion from the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange since it reopened following the hack at the weekend, the report said, citing Tuesday figures.
Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, said the market may be re-evaluating the risk-reward profile of crypto assets, citing security incidents and potential shifts in the US political landscape as factors leaving the crypto market facing strong headwinds.
The report said Trump, who vowed during his 2024 presidential campaign to make the United States the crypto capital of the world, has launched a Trump meme coin and his family's World Liberty Financial crypto platform. It said the sector has seen sweeping reforms in the almost two years since Trump returned to office, including lighter enforcement, the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve, easier access to banking and exchange-traded products, and a federal stablecoin law.