The S&P 500 achieved another record high, while Bitcoin briefly approached the $80,000 mark earlier on Saturday. The largest cryptocurrency traded at $78,180 during Asian hours, marking a 0.8% weekly increase and recovering from a Wednesday low of approximately $75,500, which was triggered by reports of fresh military escalation in Iran.
However, the situation improved with Friday's news that Tehran had proposed a new ceasefire to Washington through Pakistan, resulting in a nearly 3% decline in WTI crude to around $102 per barrel. The equities market performed well, with the S&P 500 closing 0.3% higher on Friday, achieving an all-time high and marking its fifth consecutive weekly gain, driven by strong earnings from tech giants. The Nasdaq 100 also reached a record high, advancing 0.9%, with Apple gaining 3.2% after releasing a better-than-expected revenue outlook and Oracle climbing 6.5% following its announcement of collaborating with the Pentagon's classified networks on AI projects.
A significant development in the crypto space was the release of the long-awaited Clarity Act compromise text by the Senate, which ended months of negotiations between crypto firms and bank lobbyists. The agreement, crafted by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks, prohibits stablecoin issuers from offering yield solely based on reserve holdings but preserves reward programs tied to platform activity. Coinbase expressed support for the agreement, with its Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, stating that the language 'preserves activity-based rewards tied to real participation on crypto platforms and networks.' The Senate Banking Committee can now proceed with a markup, paving the way for the legislation to advance further in the Senate.
The Treasury and CFTC will have a year to establish detailed rules for crypto firms' yield products after the bill becomes law. Meanwhile, Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, noted that Bitcoin's range-bound trading reflects broader macro uncertainty rather than crypto-specific weakness, citing ETF outflows and softer demand as symptoms.
Reis-Faria emphasized that this does not indicate institutions are leaving the market, but rather, they are not increasing their exposure at present. He added that if money starts flowing back into the market, especially from institutions or through ETFs, Bitcoin can move higher quickly. Other major cryptocurrencies were mixed, with Ether holding at $2,310, XRP at $1.39, and Solana at $84.57, all relatively flat for the week. Dogecoin stood out, gaining nearly 10% for the week to $0.105, with futures open interest reaching a year-high earlier in the week.
The setup heading into the next week remains the same, with Bitcoin requiring a fresh catalyst to break decisively above $78,000. The most likely sources of such a catalyst, including Fed clarity, ETF re-acceleration, or a Hormuz reopening, remain outside the market's control.