Bitcoin briefly hits $70,000 for the first time since June. Here is why

Bitcoin BTC$64,316.33 briefly touched $70,000 on Wednesday in some exchanges, helped by a fresh push from President Donald Trump for Congress to pass crypto market-structure legislation and by signs of greater liquidity in the Treasury market.

The price for the largest cryptocurrency touched $70,000 on Coinbase, according to TradingView data, for the first time since June 2nd, before quickly paring back below that level. Bitcoin is still up more than 7% in the last 24 hours.

Trump told a White House gathering of crypto and technology executives that Congress needs to “take the next step” and pass a “fair version” of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Coinbase, Gemini, Ripple and Chainlink Labs were among the crypto companies represented at the event.

The move to $70,000 also came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled the size of the Treasury Department’s bond buyback operations. Traders saw the move as a potential backstop for liquidity in the more than $30 trillion Treasury market, which could ease financial conditions and support risk assets.

There are also signs that the Clarity Act may finally be moving in the Senate. Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott said at the SALT conference on Tuesday that the bill has a good chance of advancing in September. A procedural vote is set for Sept. 15, giving lawmakers a few weeks to work through disagreements over crypto rewards, decentralized finance and ethics provisions.

The rally puts bitcoin well above a technical level traders had been watching for much of August.

Market technician Aksel Kibar previously flagged an inverse “head-and-shoulders” pattern that had been forming since bitcoin’s June lows. Its neckline sat near $66,600, with a confirmed break pointing to a possible move toward $76,000.

Wednesday’s Federal Reserve minutes, however, offered less help to the bulls.

Most officials backed keeping rates unchanged at the Fed’s July meeting, but several favored a hike. Many also thought a tighter policy could be needed if inflation failed to fall.

Most Fed officials expect inflation to ease through the end of the year as the effects of tariffs and earlier energy price increases fade. But they still saw inflation risks tilted to the upside, leaving the possibility of higher rates hanging over bitcoin’s breakout.