Bitcoin Defies Rate Hike, Regulatory Setbacks Reach New Heights
Bitcoin surged above $81,000 last week despite a regulatory setback and the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike in over three years. The price action showed resilience, with a brief spike to almost $82,000 on Friday.
The Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, which aimed to divide regulatory responsibilities between two agencies, by a vote of 50-49. However, the CFTC quickly moved forward under its current authority by submitting its crypto market-structure rulemaking to the White House Office of Management and Budget for approval.
The SEC also announced a five-year conditional exemption, known as the 'Innovation Exemption', allowing qualifying venues to trade tokenized NMS equities on blockchain-based platforms without registering as traditional exchanges. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins hinted at this plan in previous statements.
The Federal Reserve raised its federal funds target range by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4.00%, but Bitcoin's value jumped from $75,400 to $76,000 immediately after the announcement and surpassed $81,000 by September 18th.