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Bitcoin is climbing on Wednesday as the end of the US midterm elections removes a major source of uncertainty. BTC gained 1.8% to about $77,920 in early US hours, bouncing back from its lowest level in more than a month, hit in the previous session. During the vote count, the price briefly slid toward $75,700 before recovering to around $77,600. Traders stepped in to buy after weeks of steep losses, helped by US stock futures and Asian markets recovering from early declines, especially in tech. Altcoins edged up as well, with Cardano rising 1.4% and Solana, BNB and Dogecoin each gaining about 0.8%. History also offers support, since Bitcoin has averaged a 54% gain in the 12 months after each of the three previous midterms. Risks remain. A Democratic-controlled Congress could make crypto regulation tougher, as most pro-crypto laws of the past two years had Republican backing.

President Donald Trump has acknowledged that high fuel costs hurt Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Speaking to Fox News, Trump said voters were unhappy about paying more for gas, as the Iran war kept oil prices elevated through the campaign. Brent crude traded above $100 a barrel for much of October. Trump said he does not see the results as a blow to his presidency, even as his party is projected to lose both chambers of Congress. He congratulated Democrats, saying they had been working towards this for years. Trump also pointed to the economy and border security as his main achievements over the past two years.

James Talarico has become the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from Texas in more than three decades, the BBC reported. Talarico, a state representative and former public school teacher who also trained at a seminary, built his campaign around faith, education and taking on big-money donors. Speaking to supporters in Austin after his win, he told the crowd that Democrats had taken back Texas. He said his campaign had always backed young people, immigrants and underdogs, and was meant to show billionaire donors that political power belongs to ordinary voters. His victory is one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 midterms in a state Republicans have dominated for decades.

Donald Trump was not on Tuesday’s ballot, but the 2026 midterms delivered a clear blow to his party. Democrats are projected to win control of the House of Representatives, the BBC reported, after flipping seats in areas long considered safe for Republicans. With 247 of 435 House seats counted, Democrats led 152 to 95. The Senate remains undecided, though Democrats held 50 seats, counting those not up for election, against 38 for Republicans with 23 of 35 races counted. Texas produced the night’s biggest surprise, as Democrat James Talarico won a Senate seat, the party’s first there in decades. A Democratic House will make it harder for Trump to pass laws and could bring new investigations. Trump told the New York Times he accepts the results and expects to work with Democrats.

Voting hours vary by state on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, but most polling places close between 7 pm and 9 pm local time. Opening times typically range from 6 am to 8 am. In Pennsylvania, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. statewide. Polls close at 8 pm local time across all 67 counties. Election officials stress one rule that applies almost everywhere: if you are in line to vote when the polls close, stay in line, because you must be allowed to cast your ballot. Voters elsewhere should confirm exact times on their state or county election website, since hours can differ even within a state.

Results of the 2026 US midterm elections will start coming in once the first polls close at 6pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, or 4:30am IST on Wednesday, beginning with parts of Indiana and Kentucky. Most of Florida, Georgia and Virginia close at 7pm ET (5:30am IST), and Pennsylvania, Maine and most of Michigan and Texas at 8pm ET (6:30am IST). Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin close at 9pm ET (7:30am IST), California at 11pm ET (9:30am IST), and the last polls in western Alaska at 1am ET (11:30am IST). Early tallies are not final, because outlets such as the Associated Press call a race only when the margin is clear. Mail ballots and ranked-choice counting in Alaska, Maine, California, Nevada and Arizona could delay close races by days, so control of Congress may not be known on election night.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the hackers behind the record $6.3 billion theft spent months working their way into the exchange, rejecting claims that one compromised laptop was to blame. Speaking to CNBC, Teng said the attack began in June, when a wallet DevOps engineer installed a tampered version of Homebrew while searching online for a popular AI coding tool. Binance spotted the activity and replaced the device, but the engineer’s team had already been exposed. In September, the attackers posed as recruiters and gave another engineer a coding test containing hidden malware. They then moved through Binance’s internal AI tools to reach the system that approves wallet transactions. Teng said 98% of the $6.34 billion has been replaced. The FBI has linked the attack to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group, and about $3 billion has been frozen with help from Tether, Circle and Ripple.

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said President Donald Trump is headed for a heavy defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe, the SkyBridge Capital founder argued that voters are unhappy and that Trump has not delivered on pledges on affordability, ending long-running wars and releasing the Epstein files. Scaramucci said this has pushed some MAGA supporters away and warned of a Republican civil war after the vote. He also said he is bearish on prospects for a breakthrough in the Iran war. The White House did not respond, but has previously dismissed Scaramucci, who served 10 days in the role in 2017. A CNBC survey last month found 65% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy. Prediction markets give Democrats about a 75% chance of winning the Senate, though they are not a substitute for polls.

A Mexico City lawmaker has proposed tough new penalties for people who steal electricity to mine cryptocurrency. Alberto Martínez Urincho wants to amend Mexico’s Federal Criminal Code so that illegal power use for mining carries a prison term of 5 to 12 years, Publimetro reported. Offenders would also face fines of 1,000 to 3,000 UMA units, Mexico’s official benchmark for setting fines, and lose their equipment. Sentences could rise to 18 years in more serious cases, such as tapping into high-voltage lines, causing major disruption to power supply or running hidden data centres. The plan targets unauthorised power connections, not legal crypto mining. It still needs approval from the Mexico City legislature and must pass through the federal lawmaking process.