The collapse of the Clarity Act and a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike ought to have been a toxic combination for Bitcoin, but the world’s largest cryptocurrency has shown its resilience this week.
The token has risen 2.3% to $78,112 over the past 24 hours, meaning it’s now up about 1.3% since the start of Monday. It’s still about 38% off the record high it hit last October.
Crypto stocks were on track for a good session, too. Shares of Bitcoin investor Strategy rose 2.7% ahead of Friday’s opening bell. Digital-asset exchange Coinbase climbed 1.3%, and online trading platform Robinhood added 1.9%.
Bitcoin has rallied despite two potential setbacks this week.
The Clarity Act, a key crypto bill, fell in the Senate on Tuesday. The following day, the Fed raised rates for the first time in more than three years.
The crypto regulation stalling wasn’t too much of a worry—investors had already accepted that the Clarity Act was unlikely to pass this year.
After the decision, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission said they would still write crypto rules, with or without legislation.
Meanwhile, The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday unveiled its long-awaited exemption that will allow companies to offer trading in blockchain-based or "tokenized" stocks and other securities, in a major move that could integrate digital assets more deeply into traditional markets.
The agency is offering a five-year exemption to platforms that facilitate trading of tokenized stocks -- digital tokens that represent a stock and can be traded on a blockchain similar to a cryptocurrency -- from many of the rules that apply to the Nasdaq, NYSE and other stock exchanges.
Similarly, the market was already pricing in a potential Fed tightening cycle. The good news for crypto bulls is that oil prices have retreated in recent days, which could weaken the case for future rate hikes.
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