On Monday evening, former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sat down with X CEO Elon Musk for an interview that captured the attention of over a million listeners. The two-hour discussion covered various topics, including illegal immigration, the economy, artificial intelligence, and global warming. However, to the surprise of many, cryptocurrency, a topic of significant interest and speculation, was notably absent from the conversation.

Delay and Denial of Service?

The interview faced a delay of over 45 minutes, which Musk attributed to a “massive distributed denial of service attack” on X. “As this massive attack illustrates, there’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say,” Musk remarked during the event. However, this claim was met with skepticism. According to a report from The Verge, a source indicated a “99 percent chance Musk was lying” about the nature of the delay. Cybersecurity watchdog Netblocks did note international outages for X Spaces but did not confirm the presence of a DDoS attack.

Bettors Wager on Trump’s Words

Before the interview, prediction markets on Polymarket were buzzing with activity. Bettors placed a 65 percent chance on “crypto” being mentioned, with over $600,000 wagered. A separate market on the mention of “bitcoin” saw a peak prediction of 69 percent, with roughly $330,000 staked. The markets offered payouts in USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, for correct predictions.

In addition to crypto, bettors speculated on the mention of “Tesla,” peaking at 79 percent with bets totaling $250,000. Trump cleverly sidestepped the brand name by referring to Tesla as “your cars” in a nod to Musk.

Big Wins for a Sharp Bettor

A user named ‘bama1234’ emerged as a big winner, walking away with just over $1 million after accurately predicting most of the words Trump would or would not say. Their largest payout came from betting Trump wouldn’t mention “crypto,” netting them $336,918. However, they missed out on the term “MAGA,” which Trump used early in the interview, and also on “Trans,” which Trump did not mention despite the user’s bet.

While cryptocurrency has become a talking point in the current election cycle—highlighted by Trump’s appearance at the BTC 2024 conference in Nashville to discuss crypto policy—it continues to be overlooked in broader political discussions, including the first presidential debate in June. This absence of dialogue in mainstream forums raises questions about the role of digital assets in the current political landscape.