The S&P 500 just closed at another record high, while bitcoin made another run to the $80,000 level earlier Saturday.
The biggest crypto traded at $78,180 in Asian hours on Saturday, up 0.8% on the week and recovering from Wednesday’s low near $75,500 that came amid fresh Iran military escalation reports. The rejection came alongside reports on Friday that Tehran had passed a new ceasefire proposal to Washington through Pakistan, sending WTI crude down nearly 3% to around $102 a barrel. barrel.
Stocks had a much better week. The S&P 500 closed 0.3% higher on Friday at a record high, marking a fifth straight weekly gain on the back of strong tech mega-cap earnings.
The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9% to its own record. Apple rose 3.2% after a better-than-expected revenue outlook. Oracle climbed 6.5% on news that it had joined the list of AI firms working with the Pentagon’s classified network.
A major crypto development was on the political side.
The Senate released the long-negotiated Clarity Act compromise text on Friday, ending months of negotiations between crypto firms and bank lobbyists. The agreement, hashed out by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks, would ban stablecoin issuers from offering returns based solely on holding reserves, but preserve activity-based reward programs that crypto firms structure as incentives to use their platforms.
Coinbase, which had been at the center of the talks, signaled support immediately, with Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal stating that the language “retains activity-based rewards tied to real participation on crypto platforms and networks, which is what the banking lobby said they wanted.”
A mark, the Senate Banking Committee hearing, where the bill is formally discussed and amended, can now proceed and paves the way for the legislation to move forward in the Senate. The Treasury Department and the CFTC will have a year after the bill becomes law to write the detailed rules around what crypto firms can and cannot do with dividend products.
Meanwhile, Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, said in a note that bitcoin’s range-bound trading reflects broader macro determination rather than crypto-specific weakness.
“Bitcoin staying below the $78,000 mark isn’t really about crypto right now, it’s about what’s happening in the broader market. The Fed holding rates weren’t a surprise, but there’s no clear direction for what’s coming next, and that’s keeping investors from stepping in.”
Reis-Faria pointed to ETF outflows and softer demand as the symptoms. “It doesn’t mean institutions are exiting the market, it just means they’re not increasing their exposure right now. If money starts coming back, especially from institutions or through ETFs, Bitcoin could move higher pretty quickly.”
Other majors were mixed. Ether held $2,310, XRP at $1.39, solana at $84.57, all close weekly. Dogecoin was the standout, up nearly 10% on the week to $0.105 with open futures interest hitting a one-year high earlier in the week.
The setup heading into next week is the same as it has been all month. Bitcoin needs a fresh catalyst to decisively break above $78,000, and the most likely sources, Fed clarity, ETF re-acceleration or a Hormuz reopening, all sit beyond the market’s control.
