Bitcoin climbed back toward $78,000 on Friday, erasing an overnight drop and marking a third straight day of gains, while altcoins such as HYPE and Zcash outpaced the move. The rebound coincided with a new SEC exemption for tokenized stocks and easing bond yields, even after the Clarity Act failed in Congress.
Bitcoin traded just below $78,000 on Friday, recovering the whole of an overnight drop to $75,972 and posting its third straight day of gains. The rebound came alongside a broader rally in altcoins, with Hyperliquid's HYPE and Zcash's ZEC posting the sharpest gains among major tokens.
Altcoins outpace bitcoin's rebound
HYPE rose more than 11% to nearly $89 during Asian morning hours, while ZEC added 8% to roughly $1,472 and Solana's SOL climbed 6% to just above $106. BNB and DOGE each gained about 4%, and XRP, ether and bitcoin rose 2%, while TRX lagged with a gain of under 1%.
The move came as equities rose, a day after the Fed's quarter-point rate hike landed without the reaction traditional markets had braced for.
None of the 40 most liquid coins fell over the period, according to FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich, who said traders are cautiously shifting their focus toward altcoins: "cautiously shifting their focus towards altcoins" even as the altcoin season index stayed subdued. Total crypto market value rose 2% to roughly $2.66 trillion, and NEAR, UNI and APT led the broader group with gains of 30%, 26% and 18% respectively.
SEC's tokenized-stock exemption eases regulatory nerves
The rally also followed a five-year exemption the SEC introduced Thursday letting platforms trade tokenized stocks and other securities on a blockchain. The move helped markets look past the Senate's rejection of the Clarity Act, and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the watchdog would proceed with its own regulatory approvals.
Because the exemption stands to benefit blockchains other than bitcoin, altcoins outperformed on the news: Solana rose 5.8%, Cardano rallied over 8%, and BNB jumped 3.5%, while Dogecoin and $TRUMP added 4.2% and 5.7%.
Falling oil prices, lower Treasury yields and dovish signals from the Bank of Japan added to the risk appetite.
Bitcoin eyes resistance near $82,000
Bitcoin now faces the upper edge of its established trading range near $82,000, and Kuptsikevich expects profit-taking into the weekend to delay any attempt at that level.
Chart watchers note the 50-day and 200-day moving averages have crossed into a Golden Cross, a pattern that has historically formed near the start of past bull markets.
Sources: CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data, Cryptocurrency News, Crypto Daily™
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