The S&P 500 achieved a new record high, while Bitcoin made a notable attempt to reach the $80,000 mark earlier on Saturday. The largest cryptocurrency was trading at $78,180 during Asian hours, marking a 0.8% weekly increase and recovering from a Wednesday low of nearly $75,500, which was triggered by reports of fresh military escalation in Iran. The rebound coincided with Friday's news that Tehran had proposed a new ceasefire to Washington through Pakistan, resulting in a 3% decline in WTI crude to around $102 per barrel.
Equities experienced a strong week, with the S&P 500 closing 0.3% higher on Friday at an all-time high, marking its fifth consecutive weekly gain driven by robust earnings from tech mega-caps. The Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.9% to a record high, with Apple gaining 3.2% after exceeding revenue expectations and Oracle climbing 6.5% following news of its collaboration with the Pentagon's classified networks on AI projects. A significant development in the crypto space was the release of the long-negotiated Clarity Act compromise text by the Senate, ending 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 holding reserves but allows activity-based reward programs that crypto firms use as incentives for platform usage.
Coinbase, a central player in the talks, expressed support for the agreement, with Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal stating that the language preserves rewards tied to real participation on crypto platforms, aligning with the bank lobby's demands. The Senate Banking Committee can now proceed with a markup, formally debating and amending the bill, which paves the way for the legislation to advance further in the Senate. Upon the bill becoming law, the Treasury and CFTC will have a year to establish detailed rules governing what crypto firms can and cannot do with yield products. Meanwhile, Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, noted that Bitcoin's range-bound trading reflects broader macro uncertainty rather than crypto-specific weakness, pointing to ETF outflows and softer demand as symptoms.
Reis-Faria emphasized that this does not indicate institutions are abandoning the market but rather are not increasing their exposure at present, suggesting that if institutional money returns, especially through ETFs, Bitcoin could 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 with a nearly 10% weekly gain to $0.105, as futures open interest hit a year-high earlier in the week. The outlook heading into the next week remains unchanged from the past month, with Bitcoin requiring a fresh catalyst to break decisively above $78,000, and the most likely sources, including Fed clarity, ETF re-acceleration, or a Hormuz reopening, remain outside the market's control.