Bitcoin Returns Above $80,000 as Crypto Market Rallies

Bitcoin rallied to a two-week high, along with other cryptocurrencies, despite a Federal Reserve rate hike earlier in the week and the failure of the CLARITY Act to advance in the U.S. Senate, Ines Ferré reported for Yahoo Finance.

Bitcoin rose above $80,000 on Sept. 18 as the broader cryptocurrency market rallied despite tighter U.S. monetary policy.

Bitcoin rose more than 5% and traded above $81,000 on Friday. The broader cryptocurrency market also strengthened as traders shifted toward riskier assets.

The CLARITY Act was intended to establish a comprehensive federal regulatory framework for digital assets, but the legislation failed to advance in the Senate.

On Sept. 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a temporary, conditional exemption to facilitate the trading of certain tokenized securities on distributed-ledger trading venues.

The exemption is scheduled to operate under specified conditions and does not constitute passage of the CLARITY Act.

The cryptocurrency rally came after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest-rate target by 25 basis points on Sept. 16 to a range of 3.75% to 4%. The Fed said inflation remained elevated.

“Crypto has absorbed a fairly aggressive hawkish repricing without much damage,” Sean Farrell, head of digital assets at Fundstrat, said, according to Yahoo Finance.

Bitget Wallet research analyst Lacie Zhang attributed the move in part to spot Bitcoin ETF inflows and short covering, according to Yahoo Finance.

The Fed's September projections showed a range of views among policymakers about the appropriate path for interest rates.

The median projection for the federal funds rate at the end of 2026 was 3.9%, compared with the current target midpoint of 3.875%, although individual projections varied.