American Voters Turn to Crypto as Bitcoin Becomes Election Issue, Grayscale Survey Finds

The United States has seen sweeping changes to the crypto landscape in the last few weeks and months.

The Spot Bitcoin ETF launch in January was groundbreaking given a political climate the industry experienced as hostile – just ask Ripples’ Brad Garlinghouse or others who have been in legal fisticuffs with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Related: FIT21 Crypto Bill Passes US House with Bipartisan Support, Will President Biden Veto?

But the ETF launch also revealed that the SEC still hasn’t changed its attitude. Chair Gary Gensler went on record after the approval, stating that the move wasn’t an endorsement of Bitcoin or crypto.

And things got even better – just as everyone thought the odds for an Ethereum ETF were really, really low, the unthinkable happened: the SEC approved listing of Spot Ether ETFs on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange.

Approval of trading is now only a matter of when, not if, according to experts.

It has been rumoured that someone in the White House made a phone call to the SEC, asking them to go ahead with the ETH ETF. After all, Donald Trump had just declared himself the prince of crypto in the race for the presidency – so it’s likely the Biden administration doesn’t want to alienate its voters too much.

Grayscale Survey Says Almost Half of US Citizens Ready to Invest in Crypto

With this in mind, a Grayscale survey supports the upbeat mood in the US around the novel asset class. The survey noted that 47% of US Citizens plan to buy crypto. For reference there are already tens of millions of crypto holders in the US. 

32% of voters said they are curious about crypto and want to learn more about it.

It’s a sensible idea to get better educated on crypto as it becomes more mainstream – if you too plan on finding out more about crypto, we have compiled a section with guides where you can find out about crypto in self-managed super funds, how to benefit from airdrops or what to do about those pesky taxes – the short answer is of course, pay them, but more on that in our guide about Aussie tax software.

But the leading factor that is likely driving US interest in crypto could be simply that people are tired of high inflation, with 28% of respondents saying that’s their number one issue.

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