Crypto News Today: Bitcoin Stalls Near $78,000 While Zcash and Monero Steal the Show

August was the month crypto remembered how to rally. $Bitcoin closed it up roughly 26 percent, briefly punched through $81,000, and printed its strongest weekly candle in more than three years. Then it stopped.

September opened with a shrug. Bitcoin is changing hands around $77,951 after a daily candle that opened at $78,571, tapped $79,184, and closed the session down 0.91 percent. Nothing dramatic. But after a vertical move like August, "nothing dramatic" is exactly what bulls did not want to see.

Underneath the surface, though, this market is anything but boring. Michael Saylor is buying again, privacy coins are printing eight-year highs, and September is stacked with catalysts that could decide whether the rally has legs or whether traders spend the autumn explaining what went wrong.

Why Did Bitcoin Stall Right Below $80,000?

The short answer is Kevin Warsh.

The Fed Chair used his first Jackson Hole appearance in late August to make clear that inflation is not beaten, and markets promptly repriced the odds of a September rate hike rather than a cut. Bitcoin dropped roughly 3.3 percent to $77,678 on August 29 after Warsh's speech pushed rate hike expectations higher, cutting short a strong rally.