On Monday morning, Bitcoin surpassed the $80,000 mark. Over the last month, this cryptocurrency has experienced a remarkable increase of 19%, significantly outpacing the S&P 500, which only managed around a 10% gain in the same period.
This optimistic trend seems to be linked to encouraging advancements related to the CLARITY Act. This proposed legislation aims to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. While the bill received approval in the House back in July 2025, it stalled in the Senate due to disagreements between banks and stablecoin issuers over stablecoin yield regulations. However, recent compromises reached by lawmakers may improve the outlook for the CLARITY Act.
“We’re making progress,” stated Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, during a recent Fox Business interview. The senator expressed hopes for a markup of the legislation in May, aiming to bring it to the Senate floor by June or July.
The CLARITY Act faced challenges earlier this year when Coinbase withdrew its support in mid-January. This was partly due to a proposed amendment that would restrict crypto companies from offering yield on stablecoin balances. The GENIUS Act, enacted in 2025 and focused specifically on stablecoins, prohibits issuers from directly paying yield; however, third-party platforms like Coinbase can still reward users on their stablecoin holdings, which banks have criticized as a “loophole.”
Recently, Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) reached a compromise that would permit crypto companies to provide stablecoin yield, as long as these rewards are not “economically or functionally equivalent to interest payments on an interest-bearing bank deposit,” according to Punchbowl News reported. Following this news, cryptocurrency stocks reacted positively, with Coinbase rising 7% and Circle gaining 15% on Monday morning.
The surge in Bitcoin’s price is particularly noteworthy because it coincided with a slowdown in purchases from Michael Saylor’s Strategy, a major Bitcoin-investing company and one of the largest accumulators of the cryptocurrency, which has reduced its buying activity.
The fact that Bitcoin is gaining momentum even as Strategy pulls back “indicates that the market may be gaining support from a wider variety of investors beyond just one narrative,” noted QCP, a digital asset firm, in a recent market update.
However, Bitcoin’s upward trend might hit obstacles ahead. A significant number of call options are positioned around the $80,000 level, which means that options traders will need to hedge by selling Bitcoin as its price rises, creating a sort of “electric fence” at that threshold, Bloomberg reported.