Bitcoin and Litecoin could be two of the biggest beneficiaries of any new U.S. government initiative for cryptocurrency mining.
The color of Bitcoin (BTC 1.15%) could be changing from orange to red, white, and blue. That’s because Donald Trump has pledged that, if he becomes the next president, there will be a major increase in Bitcoin mining operations in the United States. In fact, Trump even went so far as to say that he wants all future Bitcoin to be mined in the U.S.
As a crypto investor, what might be the best ways to profit from that beyond just investing in Bitcoin miners? Here are three cryptocurrencies that could benefit.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin would be the most obvious, no-brainer beneficiary of Trump’s support. One knock against this crypto has always been that Bitcoin mining is tremendously energy-inefficient. In September 2022, for example, the Biden administration issued a lengthy research report (“Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States”) detailing all the ways that Bitcoin mining imposes significant strains on America’s energy grid.
Image source: Getty Images.
So, at the very least, any type of nationwide “Make Bitcoin Mining Great Again” initiative would remove one of the key obstacles to Bitcoin’s mainstream acceptance. Yes, environmental activists like Greenpeace will continue to put out reports about “energy guzzling Bitcoin mines,” but more U.S. states would be likely to embrace Bitcoin mining. That’s especially true for states with cheap sources of renewable energy, or states looking to revitalize certain economic regions.
The big question, of course, is whether any new Trump initiative to support domestic Bitcoin miners will actually have any economic impact at all. After all, the Bitcoin mining industry is relatively small, and if we’re only talking about new jobs added at Bitcoin mining companies, then the impact might be negligible. Currently, there are approximately 60,000 people employed within the U.S. crypto industry, but only one-fifth of them are involved with crypto mining.
Based on what we know from Trump’s discussions with Bitcoin miners, the major focus appears to be the economic multiplier effect that might result from supporting the Bitcoin mining industry. For example, that would include jobs at renewable energy companies and at companies helping to update America’s power grid and energy transmission lines. And, there has even been suggestion that supporting the Bitcoin mining industry might help to provide a boost for America’s growing AI industry, given the tremendous energy needs of this industry as well.
Litecoin
Litecoin (LTC 0.86%), like Bitcoin, is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency, so it requires mining. It was created from the same source code as Bitcoin, so the two are similar in just about every regard. It too, has a halving event every four years, and just like Bitcoin, Litecoin is supported by an ecosystem of miners. So it’s not too much of a stretch to assert that anything that benefits Bitcoin mining also benefits Litecoin mining.
My only caveat here is that Litecoin seems to have fallen out of favor with investors. While it still ranks among the top 20 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization, it is down 2% year to date while Bitcoin is up 55%. Of even more concern, Litecoin’s August 2023 halving did not lead to a higher price for the crypto.
On the plus side, just about everyone agrees that Litecoin is a cryptocurrency and not a security. As a result, Litecoin has avoided any major regulatory fights with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That regularity clarity has opened the door for Litecoin to participate in financial projects that other top cryptocurrencies are excluded from. For example, when a group of Wall Street behemoths formed a new private trading platform last year to trade just four cryptocurrencies, Litecoin was one of them.
Dogecoin
You didn’t think I’d mention Dogecoin (DOGE 2.38%) here, did you? Well, the list of top proof-of-work cryptocurrencies is a rather short one, and Dogecoin ranks second, behind only Bitcoin, in terms of market cap. Moreover, Dogecoin actually made it into the White House’s 2022 environmental review of crypto-assets, so it too, would probably benefit from any broader national discussion about the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining.
Obviously, whatever Trump might decide to do to encourage Bitcoin mining to happen domestically, it won’t change the fact that Dogecoin is a meme coin with no obvious utility. However, there is one outlandish scenario that could lead to Dogecoin skyrocketing in price: Trump could decide to become a public supporter of Dogecoin on social media in the same way that Elon Musk has used X (formerly Twitter) to promote it.
Just imagine what would happen, for example, if Trump ever says that he plans to use Dogecoin to reduce the national debt. That concept might sound ludicrous at first, but Trump has already asked about the possibility of Bitcoin helping to pay down the national debt. And Elon Musk has already floated the idea of using Dogecoin to help pay for future space missions. As America’s mountain of debt expands, we’re going to need some creative, outside-the-box thinking. That might explain why former House Speaker Paul Ryan recently penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on how crypto could stave off a U.S. debt crisis.
That being said, I have no plans to invest in Dogecoin any time soon. While I can see a short-term case for buying the meme coin, its long-term case is much less impressive. Dogecoin has been around for 10 years, and has never once broken through the $1 mark.
Be wary of the Bitcoin flip-flop
As a rule of thumb, investors should not make any financial decisions based on candidates’ campaign promises. Remember — just a few years ago, Trump was adamantly anti-crypto and anti-Bitcoin. So he’s already done one flip-flop on Bitcoin. What if he decides, after he’s won the election (of course, election outcome depending), that Bitcoin mining is not what he thought it was?
With that in mind, the only crypto from this list that I’m investing in is Bitcoin. The regulatory and political environment appears to be shifting in its favor, and Trump’s new support of Bitcoin mining is just more evidence of this. That’s the macro, long-term trend that I’m focused on now, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m so bullish on Bitcoin’s growth prospects.