Bitcoin Surges Despite Trump's Silence on Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a surge to $69,000 after President Donald Trump's longest State of the Union address on Tuesday night, which lasted 107 minutes but failed to mention cryptocurrency.

Polymarket traders had predicted a low chance of Trump discussing Bitcoin or crypto in his speech, with only a 27% chance that he would bring up either term. Despite this prediction being correct, the market saw a significant increase in value, with BTC rising by almost 8% on Wednesday.

The rally is attributed to renewed spot ETF inflows and equity momentum, rather than Trump's speech. In fact, crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen warned that BTC's price behavior is mirroring prior midterm-year bear markets, specifically the ones seen in 2014, 2018, and 2022.

Polymarket bettors appear to agree with Cowen's assessment, as they have priced the chance of Bitcoin hitting $60,000 or $80,000 first at 61% and 39%, respectively. The market has seen almost $20 million in volume, with February priced at 1% to be BTC's best month of 2026.