Bitcoin Reclaims $86,500 Amid Strong Institutional Demand
Bitcoin has reclaimed $86,500 after a sharp weekly rally that pushed the total cryptocurrency market capitalization back above $3 trillion for the first time since January. The move comes despite two major headwinds: a Federal Reserve rate hike and the failure of the CLARITY Act's cloture vote in the US Senate.
The rally has been driven by both genuine institutional demand and a mechanical bounce, according to data from CoinGecko and Cointelegraph. US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in nearly $1 billion in net inflows on September 21 alone, while corporate treasuries such as Strategy and Strive added significant amounts of BTC.
The question remains whether this is a durable shift in demand or a shorter-lived mechanical bounce. The Federal Reserve's hawkish dot plot and the possibility of another rate hike could dampen appetite for non-yielding assets like Bitcoin, but Standard Chartered has stood by its $100,000 year-end target for Bitcoin.