Bitcoin Rides Out Triple Threat of Rate Hikes and CLARITY Defeat to End Week Higher

Bitcoin absorbed a punishing sequence of events this week—the collapse of the crypto industry's most important legislative push, the Federal Reserve's first rate increase in more than three years, and a matching move from the Bank of Japan—and still managed to close higher than where it started.

The cryptocurrency traded near $77,400 as of Thursday afternoon, according to CoinGecko data, roughly 0.8% above its level a week earlier. At one point during Friday's session it touched $81,000, a two-week high, before settling back into the mid-to-upper $70,000s.

The week's first blow came on Tuesday, when the CLARITY Act failed a procedural vote in the Senate. The bill, which would have settled the long-running jurisdictional dispute between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over which digital assets count as securities versus commodities, attracted only 49 votes—well short of the 60 needed to advance debate. A Republican ethics amendment aimed at limiting public officials' digital asset conflicts of interest failed to secure the bipartisan support sponsors had hoped for.

The defeat sent shares of Coinbase and stablecoin issuer Circle down roughly 9% each, while bitcoin slid to about $75,000, its lowest level in three weeks. Yet the damage was contained. Analysts noted that traders had been repricing the legislative path for weeks, and the bill's failure was widely viewed as a delay rather than a terminal setback. A motion to reconsider has already been filed, and several senators have publicly pledged to keep pushing for a version of the measure.