Bitcoin Price Stuck Near $77,000 as Fed and CLARITY Act Collide

The Bitcoin price has been stuck near $77,000 for several days as two major factors collide. The first is the recent Fed rate hikes, which are contrary to what crypto markets have rallied on in the past two years. The second is the upcoming vote on the CLARITY Act in the US Senate, which aims to clarify regulatory oversight of digital assets.

The CLARITY Act would split oversight between the SEC and CFTC, with the former handling securities and the latter gaining exclusive jurisdiction over digital commodity spot markets. While a successful cloture vote does not make anything law, it allows debate to begin. A failed vote, on the other hand, effectively ends comprehensive market structure legislation before the November midterms.

The Bitcoin price has been volatile in recent days, with a 24-hour move of 0.82% and a seven-day move of 1.79%. The year-to-date loss is 11.90%, while the market cap remains at $1.54 trillion. Institutional appetite for crypto assets has not vanished but appears to have cooled since mid-August.

The long-term holders are not selling, with Glassnode's Sell-Side Risk Ratio dropping to 7 basis points per day from 16 at August's peak. However, new money is missing from the market, which could be attributed to regulatory uncertainty and rate hike fears.