Bitcoin Rebounds Above $80K as Democrats Take Congress

Bitcoin clawed its way back above $80,000 on Wednesday after briefly sinking to a six-week low, while Ethereum jumped 7% to $2,434. The rebound came hours after Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in the U.S. midterm elections — a result that hands the crypto industry a harder road in Washington even as its prices tick up.

This looks like a bounce, not a victory lap. Bitcoin's recovery put it back above its 50-day average price, a solid bullish signal after weeks of bearish correction, and the overnight selloff reversed as U.S. stock futures rebounded too. Crunching it down, that makes the politics hard to isolate: the Dow Jones Industrial Average led a broad stock rally of about 1.6% with a 2.5% gain. Analysts who spoke to Decrypt said the Democratic sweep had already been priced into crypto markets before election night, so the bounce says more about how much bad news traders had already braced for than about anyone cheering the result.

The industry poured real money into avoiding this outcome. It has spent more than $300 million backing crypto-friendly candidates from both parties across the 2024 and 2026 election cycles, with roughly $176 million of that aimed at more than 100 races this year alone. A big chunk of the spending was meant to push legislation through Congress that would give digital asset businesses clearer rules — above all the Clarity Act, which would spell out how federal regulators oversee different types of crypto assets and trading activity.

The bill was already in trouble. Senators voted 49-50 against advancing it in September, short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle — not a final vote, but enough to keep it from reaching full debate. Talks had snagged on restrictions covering government officials' crypto business interests and on how rewards paid on stablecoins, tokens built to hold a fixed value, should be treated. President Donald Trump's personal and family crypto ventures became a particular flashpoint for Democratic lawmakers.

Democratic control makes a swift return to that same deal unlikely, though it does not roll back what the industry locked in under Trump: eased enforcement, a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and a federal stablecoin law. That distinction lands hardest on exchanges, token issuers and other firms chasing clear legal permission to operate — not on Bitcoin's daily price, where analysts told Decrypt that liquidity, interest rates and investment flows still call the shots.

The wider market has had a rough month regardless of politics. Crypto has shed roughly $300 billion over the past month, now sitting at about $2.67 trillion in total value, as rising borrowing costs and worries about returns on artificial intelligence investments pushed traders toward bonds and gold. Major Bitcoin exchange-traded funds logged $215 million in net withdrawals in October, taking their year-to-date net outflows to $1.84 billion. The new Congress takes office in January 2027, so unless lawmakers revive the Clarity Act before the current session ends, the industry restarts its legislative fight with Democrats holding both chambers.