Bitcoin Rises to $81K Despite Fed, BOJ and CLARITY Setbacks
Bitcoin rose to a two-week high near $81,000 during a week marked by persistent US inflation, a Federal Reserve rate hike, a 25-basis-point Bank of Japan increase and a Senate setback for the CLARITY Act. Bitcoin initially fell to about $75,000 after the Senate rejected cloture on the bill, but buyers defended the level. The cryptocurrency later recovered above $78,000 and reached $81,000 as US trading began on Friday.
Bitcoin was trading at about $80,600, up 0.9% over 24 hours, while total crypto market capitalisation stood at $2.77 trillion. Bitcoin dominance was 58.6%. Ethereum fell 3% to $2,570 and XRP declined 4% to $1.37.
The broader market was mixed. Zcash continued its strong rally, NEAR gained 35% and Uniswap rose more than 30%. Hyperliquid and Bitcoin Cash also advanced, while RAIN dropped 22%.
Strategy did not report another Bitcoin purchase as it continued rebuilding its US dollar reserves. Strive added 469 Bitcoin. JPMorgan analysts said easing ETF hedging demand could provide Bitcoin with more support than gold. Separately, the SEC introduced an Innovation Exemption aimed at facilitating on-chain trading of tokenised stocks.
Seven Democratic senators said efforts to advance the CLARITY Act would continue despite the procedural defeat. CoinEx, meanwhile, announced plans to close by the end of the year, citing difficult market conditions and regulatory pressure.
Bullish
The market impact is bullish because Bitcoin recovered quickly from politically and macroeconomically negative catalysts and reached a two-week high near $81,000. This suggests strong dip-buying demand and resilient risk appetite. Historically, Bitcoin has often rallied when markets interpret central-bank decisions as already priced in, even when rates rise. The limited reaction to the Federal Reserve and BOJ hikes indicates that traders may be focusing more on liquidity expectations, ETF flows and improving on-chain conditions than on the rate increases themselves.
In the short term, Bitcoin’s move above $78,000 strengthens momentum, but the failed CLARITY Act vote and continued regulatory uncertainty could trigger sharp pullbacks. The $75,000 area is an important recent support zone, while the $81,000 region may act as resistance. Ethereum’s decline and mixed altcoin performance also show that the rally is not broad-based, increasing volatility risk.
Over the longer term, potential ETF support, institutional accumulation by Strive and the SEC’s framework for tokenised securities could improve crypto-market infrastructure. Continued regulatory delays, exchange closures such as CoinEx and tight monetary policy remain risks. Traders should therefore treat the current bias as bullish but monitor volume, ETF positioning, Bitcoin dominance and whether BTC can hold above the recent breakout zone.