Republican Mike Collins, re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, holds Ethereum.

Collins disclosed an investment in Ethereum (ETH) worth nearly $80,000, according to the platform Quiver Quantitative. The platform, which tracks investment purchases and trades of key public figures, shared this via a post on X on Nov. 8.

As well as Ethereum, the lawmaker has reportedly also purchased $15,000 worth of Aerodrome (AERO). Aerodrome is an automated market maker and decentralized exchange that functions as the central liquidity hub for Base, a layer-2 network on Ethereum launched by Coinbase.

Rep. Collins disclosed the ETH investment just three days after Donald Trump resoundingly won the U.S. election to send crypto skyrocketing. Ethereum price rose alongside Bitcoin (BTC) as sentiment flipped extremely bullish following Trump’s victory.

Bitcoin broke to a new all-time high above $76k while the price of ETH rose to highs of $2,957 on Nov. 8.

However, the native token of the smart contracts platform that’s the largest home of decentralized finance protocols, has yet to rally as BTC has. ETH is still nearly 40% off its ATH above $4.8k reached in May 2021 and has yet to master a fight back to reclaim its year-to-date high above $4k reached in March.

While not the first Congressman to disclose they hold cryptocurrency as part of their portfolio, Collins’ move suggests a likely new trend as the crypto industry lays a mark on the U.S. legislative map with the highest number of pro-crypto elected candidates.

Sentiment for the U.S. crypto market is also largely positive as the industry looks to put behind it the negative approach of regulation by enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC, under Chair Gary Gensler, has over the past four years espoused a crackdown that critics say threatened to pull the U.S. to the back of the line in terms of crypto and blockchain innovation.

Trump promised to fire Gensler immediately he took office.

Jack Dorsey founded payments firm Block Inc. is pivoting its focus towards the cryptocurrency mining sector.

In a Nov. 7 shareholder letter, Block, formerly Square Inc., said it would dial down resources towards its music streaming service TIDAL, and sunset TBD, a venture focusing on decentralizing the internet, to focus on expanding its presence in the Bitcoin mining sector.

Block acquired TIDAL in a 2021 acquisition for roughly $300 million, as the streaming service was facing stiff competition and failing to gain traction. The platform has continued to struggle, with reports indicating workforce reductions and a $132.3 million impairment charge.

Meanwhile, TBD, a subsidiary of Block, set out to create a decentralized web experience in 2022 which it dubbed Web5. It is not clear why the company intends to shut down operations.

The timing of Block’s announcement coincides with Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election.

Recall that in June, Trump said he’d like to see all remaining Bitcoin mined in the U.S., highlighting its potential to help the country dominate the energy sector. The news was a big boost for Bitcoin mining stocks and brought some energy back to a sector that’s been struggling with profits since this year’s halving slashed mining rewards by half.

Block seems to be positioning itself to capitalize on the renewed momentum in the U.S. mining sector, which it believes has “a healthy pipeline of demand.”

While Block doesn’t mine Bitcoin directly, it develops mining equipment through its Proto initiative. Earlier this year, the company revealed it had developed a 3-nanometer mining chip, which prominent Bitcoin miner Core Scientific has decided to incorporate into its operations.

Block will also allocate a portion of the restructured resources towards its self-custodial hardware wallet offering Bitkey, the letter noted. Launched in March 2024, the device lets users store BTC while also facilitating purchases via traditional channels leveraging its partnerships with exchanges and payment providers.

The company’s new direction comes as its revenue missed Wall Street estimates, reporting $5.98 billion for the third quarter, falling short of the expected $6.24 billion, and follows layoffs across the Cash App, Foundational, and Square divisions in January, along with a reduction of around 40 Tidal employees in December.

Meanwhile, as Block narrows its focus on the mining market, U.S. Bitcoin miners have been expanding operations over the past month. In September, CleanSpak acquired seven Bitcoin mining facilities in a bid to reach its goal of boosting its hashrate to 37 EH/s by the end of 2024.

In August, Marathon Digital Holdings raised $292.5 million to fund its strategic expansions.

According to an H.C. Wainwright & Co. report in the third quarter of 2024, publicly listed Bitcoin mining firms collectively saw a 4.5% increase in hash rate.

Donald Trump-themed meme coins TRUMP, MAGA, TREMP, and STRUMP have tanked, with their total market capitalization down over 21% on the day, after Trump secured a victory in the U.S. election.

MAGA (TRUMP), the largest Trump-themed meme coin in terms of market cap fell 50.7% over the past 24 hours, exchanging hands at $1.71 when writing. The altcoin’s market cap fell from $212 million seen on Nov. 6 to $79 million when writing.

MAGA Hat (MAGA) a meme token inspired by Trump’s iconic red hat worn during his political campaigns also collapsed by 51% with its market cap falling to $39 million. 

Dark MAGA (DMAGA) which saw the highest gains on Nov. 5, climbing from $0.008 to $0.0018 overnight. The meme coin has since plunged by 62% from its pre-election level and was trading at $0.0045, wiping out over $13.5 million from its market cap. Similarly, Super Trump (STRUMP) also faced a sharp drop of 54.9%, with its market cap shedding $11 million.

Other popular meme coins that previously capitalized on Trump’s presidential victory but have crashed at press time, include Doland Tremp (TREMP), TRUMPCOIN, TRUMP 47 (47), and Pepe Trump (PTRUMP) which suffered losses between 50-65%.

Traders seemed to have sold the news, a familiar trend for meme coins, which often experience sharp sell-offs after hype peaks—just as with Dogecoin (DOGE), the industry’s first and largest meme coin.