Bitcoin and ethereum prices today, Friday, September 18, 2026: Crypto prices rise as investors move past CLARITY's failure

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) opened at $76,350.68 on Friday, September 18, 2026, 0.3% higher than Thursday's opening price. As of 7:25 a.m. ET this morning, the price of bitcoin lifted to $77,991.09.

Ethereum (ETH-USD) opened at $2,445.49 on Friday, September 18, 2026, up 1.2% from Thursday's opening price. The price of ethereum moved up to $2,501.16 as of 7:25 a.m. ET.

Bitcoin and ethereum opened this morning in line with the opening prices we have observed all week. However, prices on both bitcoin and ethereum have moved much higher in early trading as investors move past the highly anticipated Fed decision and look onward to new legislation that can help spur the industry forward.

The Fed's decision to raise rates for the first time in three years, combined with the ongoing restoration of Saudi Arabia's key East-West pipeline, has eased inflation concerns among investors. And while the failure of the CLARITY Act in the U.S. Senate this week cast a blow to the crypto industry, the CEO at Coinbase believes there's another path forward for crypto investors:

"We let politics get in the way, I guess," Armstrong said of the bill in an interview with Yahoo Finance partner the Daily Wolf.

He added, "I would just at this point assume it's dead," noting that "there's another path, luckily, with the regulators, the SEC, and the CFTC."