Key Points
- Bitcoin will attract more support from institutional and corporate investors.
- XRP lacks clear near-term catalysts -- but it faces significant challenges.
The Democrats took control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections on Nov. 3. Those sweeping victories rattled the cryptocurrency market, since Democrats have traditionally favored tighter regulations and oversight for cryptocurrencies than Republicans.
However, investors shouldn't dump all of their cryptocurrencies just because the Democrats are taking over. Instead, they should simply be more selective with the tokens they buy. Let's take a look at one token that's still worth buying -- and one that probably should be sold.
Image source: Getty Images.
Buy Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC -3.55%) is the world's most valuable cryptocurrency. It's often called "digital gold" because it's still actively mined with the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Its miners use powerful computer chips to solve cryptographic puzzles and earn Bitcoin rewards, and that difficulty increases every four years with scheduled "halvings" that halve their mining rewards.
The last Bitcoin is expected to be mined in 2140. That scarcity makes it more comparable to gold, silver, and other precious metals than smaller cryptocurrencies. Over the long term, it could also become a hedge against the debasement of fiat currencies. El Salvador already accepts Bitcoin as legal tender, and other inflation-wracked countries could follow its lead.
BTC - Bitcoin
CRYPTO · As of 1:24 PM ET 11/12/26
Key data points
The SEC approved Bitcoin's first spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2024 under the Biden Administration. The Trump Administration, which took over the following year, also adopted more crypto-friendly policies and established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Therefore, Bitcoin gained more bipartisan support as institutional investors adopted it more widely. Earlier this year, the SEC officially recognized Bitcoin as a digital commodity -- rather than a security -- through a joint statement with the CFTC. That designation should shield it from any future regulations that target tokenized assets with security-like features.
Over the next few years, institutional investors should allocate more of their portfolios to Bitcoin. More companies could also follow Strategy's (MSTR -4.59%) lead and build their own Bitcoin treasuries to diversify their balance sheets away from fiat currencies. Bitcoin's market cap of $1.4 trillion is still tiny compared to gold's market cap of $27.0 billion, but it could close that gap.
Sell XRP
XRP (XRP -3.60%), the native token of the XRP Ledger, was created by the founders of Ripple, a fintech company specializing in blockchain-based payments. In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple's founders for selling their own XRP tokens to fund the company's expansion.
That lawsuit, which accused Ripple of selling XRP as unlicensed securities, dragged on for five years and caused the top crypto exchanges to delist XRP. In 2025, the lawsuit finally ended with a light fine and a ruling that XRP wasn't a security when sold to retail investors. The exchanges relisted XRP, the SEC approved its first spot price ETFs in late 2025, and it was adopted by a growing number of financial institutions for cross-border money transfers.
XRP - XRP
CRYPTO · As of 1:22 PM ET 11/12/26
Key data points
Those positive developments boosted XRP's price to a multi-year high of $3.65 last July, but it now trades at about $1. The market's enthusiasm for XRP faded as it faced stiff competition from stablecoins (which are pegged to the U.S. dollar and other fiat currencies and also facilitate cross-border transfers) and as the CLARITY Act -- which would have established clearer regulatory foundations for XRP and other smaller altcoins -- died in the Senate. Even Ripple, which drives most of XRP's transactions, launched its own stablecoin in late 2024.
Even if XRP weathers these challenges, its price must stabilize -- rather than appreciate unpredictably -- to be considered a reliable bridge currency for fiat transfers. While its token could remain a promising technology for upgrading legacy financial rails, its upside potential may be limited by tighter regulations on blockchain-based cross-border transfers. That's why I'd avoid XRP and stick with more established tokens like Bitcoin as the Democrats take over.
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