Bitcoin has scaled $120,000 for the primary time, a significant milestone for the world’s largest cryptocurrency within the run-up to what could possibly be a landmark week.
Beginning July 14, “Crypto Week” will see the US Home of Representatives debate three industry-friendly payments which are doubtless to supply cryptocurrencies with the US regulatory framework that crypto insiders have lengthy demanded.
US President Donald Trump has urged policymakers to revamp their guidelines, away from the plethora of lawsuits introduced towards crypto corporations by the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) underneath former President Joe Biden (2021-2025), in favour of the {industry}.
Expectations of additional tailwinds helped propel Bitcoin, up 29 % thus far this yr, to a record high of $122,055 on Monday. Bitcoin, the very first cryptocurrency, started buying and selling in January 2009, when it was valued at simply $0.004.
The surge has sparked a broader rally throughout different cryptocurrencies as Ether, the world’s second-most fashionable token, reached a five-month excessive of $3,048.2 on Monday.
Extra typically, the sector’s complete market worth has swelled to roughly $3.8 trillion, in line with CoinMarketCap.
Cryptocurrencies are a type of financial trade that permits individuals to bypass central banks and conventional cost strategies.
What’s at stake?
US lawmakers will talk about three key items of laws throughout “Crypto Week”:
- The GENIUS Act goals to make clear when digital belongings like crypto tokens are thought-about securities or commodities, serving to startups keep away from authorized uncertainty by offering clear regulatory guidelines. The Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act has already passed the Senate.
- The Readability Act would block federal companies from utilizing courtroom rulings to overextend regulatory energy, guaranteeing that Congress – and never courts – defines how crypto belongings are categorised and ruled.
- The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central financial institution digital foreign money (CBDC), arguing it may allow authorities surveillance of People’ monetary exercise and threaten particular person privateness.
This marks a pointy reversal for a sector that after threatened to do its enterprise outdoors the US, citing a hostile atmosphere and heavy-handed enforcement.
Crypto firms have lengthy accused US monetary regulators (just like the SEC) of enacting complicated or conflicting guidelines.
“We count on capital that was beforehand sidelined resulting from regulatory uncertainty to re-enter … even when ultimate passage stalls,” Jag Kooner, head of derivatives at Bitfinex crypto trade, informed Reuters.
This week’s selections may make it simpler for firms to launch new digital asset merchandise and to commerce in crypto.
Does the proposed laws have critics?
Democrats are anticipated to supply amendments to the GENIUS and Readability Acts.
Critics have argued that the Trump administration is conceding an excessive amount of floor to the crypto {industry}.
“I’m involved that what my Republican colleagues are aiming for is one other {industry} handout,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren stated on July 9 at a Senate Banking, Housing, and City Affairs Committee listening to.
She urged Congress to bar public officers, together with Trump, from issuing, backing or making the most of crypto tokens.
Warren additionally argued that new crypto guidelines mustn’t “open a again door to destroy” longtime securities legal guidelines, or enable volatility within the crypto market to spill over into the standard monetary system.
Lastly, she underscored that anti-money laundering guidelines ought to apply to the {industry}. Crypto customers are recognized by alphanumeric pockets addresses, not their names, permitting dangerous actors to obscure the supply of their illicit funds.
The Biden administration adopted a tricky regulatory stance in direction of cryptocurrencies, aiming to supervise the digital belongings as securities topic to the identical rules as shares and bonds.
What’s Trump’s curiosity in crypto?
Trump, as soon as a crypto sceptic, grew to become a significant promoter throughout his presidential marketing campaign final yr, even turning into the primary major-party presidential candidate to simply accept marketing campaign donations through crypto.
Throughout the 2024 marketing campaign, crypto insiders spent almost 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars}, in line with Federal Election Fee knowledge, in help of crypto allies – and to try to weed out antagonists.
In March, Trump said he would create a crypto reserve that would come with 5 cryptocurrencies (together with Bitcoin), including he would make the US “the crypto capital of the world”.
In the meantime, Trump’s household enterprise has launched a number of cryptocurrency meme cash, flash-in-the-pan belongings impressed by web jokes or cultural references, corresponding to $Trump and $Melania.
Trump has confronted criticism over conflicts of curiosity concerning his household’s ventures. For example, World Liberty Monetary – a crypto group backed by Trump and his sons in 2024 – has earned the president $57m.
Elsewhere, Trump Media & Know-how Group filed paperwork with the SEC in July looking for approval to launch its personal “Crypto Blue-Chip ETF”, an exchange-traded fund holding Bitcoin and different digital currencies.
How has Bitcoin carried out since Trump was re-elected?
If Bitcoin had been a rustic, it might rank within the prime 10 by gross home product, roughly on par with nations like Brazil ($2.17 trillion) and Canada ($2.14 trillion).
Since Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024, Bitcoin has surged by 75 %, rising from about $69,539 at shut on Election Day to its present report degree. It rallied to above $100,000 for the primary time final December.
The cryptocurrency briefly dropped under $90,000 on February 25, amid market jitters triggered by Trump’s announcement of recent tariffs on a number of nations and industries worldwide, earlier than recovering after Trump’s “crypto reserve” announcement.
Bitcoin’s rise additionally arrives amid a wider backdrop of financial uncertainty, notably the worldwide turmoil from Trump’s steep – and on-again, off-again – tariffs imposed on key buying and selling companions worldwide, along with ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Center East.
“Bitcoin has proven resilience this yr, rebounding in keeping with its macro exposures following tariff bulletins,” Citibank analysts wrote in a analysis paper final week.
