Bitcoin (BTC-USD) experienced a notable increase on Friday, reaching a two-week high, alongside a rise in other cryptocurrencies.
This surge occurred in spite of an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve earlier in the week and the setback of the Clarity Act, which aimed to establish a federal framework for the digital asset sector.
Following the measure’s failure in the Senate, the Securities and Exchange Commission intervened on Thursday, granting a conditional exemption for the trading of specific tokenized stocks on blockchain networks for the next five years.
Both Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies demonstrated resilience even amidst an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve, with investors anticipating at least one further hike this year.
“The crypto market has absorbed a relatively aggressive hawkish move without sustaining significant damage,” remarked Sean Farrell, the head of digital assets at Fundstrat on Friday.
The rally in Bitcoin’s price on Friday seemed predominantly driven by technical factors, as momentum traders were particularly optimistic.
“Inflows into U.S. spot ETFs and short covering contributed to its breakthrough above the crucial $80,000 mark,” noted Bitget Wallet research analyst Lacie Zhang on Friday.
While Bitcoin spearheaded the upward movement, other altcoins such as ether (ETH-USD), binance (BNC-USD), and solana (SOL-USD) have also performed exceptionally well, recording gains of 35%, 25%, and 41%, respectively, over the past month, as per Yahoo Finance’s AlphaSpace data.
Investors have shifted their attention towards alternative tokens and digital assets like tokenized Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), and the S&P 500 (SPY), boosting the cryptocurrency market cap to $2.66 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Market analysts have observed indications that the protracted crypto bear market may have reached its end, with Ed Engel from Compass Point recently changing his rating on Coinbase (COIN) from Sell to Neutral, stating, “BTC is emerging from a cyclical bottom.” (Note: Yahoo Finance has a partnership with Coinbase.)
In August, Bitcoin saw an increase of approximately 25%. However, it remains down by 8% year-to-date.
· REUTERS / REUTERS
Ines Ferre serves as a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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