Bitcoin holds near $84,000 as rising bond yields offset regulatory progress

Bitcoin hovered near the $84,000 mark as the weekend approached, facing pressure from rising U.S. Treasury yields while benefiting from institutional demand and regulatory progress. As of 00:55 ET (04:55 GMT) on Saturday, Bitcoin was trading at $83,981.2, marking a 0.27% decrease for the day. The cryptocurrency briefly surged to $85,000 on Friday after dipping below $83,000 earlier in the week.

The primary driver behind the pressure was the bond market, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rising above 5.2% after hitting its highest level since 2007 earlier in the week, which increased the allure of interest-bearing assets and negatively impacted Bitcoin and other risk assets. Despite this, institutional flows proved supportive, with U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) receiving approximately $2.65 billion across five consecutive sessions, including around $347 million on Wednesday.

Leading institutional players, such as BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC, played significant roles in these inflows. Additionally, Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, is attempting to broaden its Bitcoin-linked financing approach by proposing daily dividend accruals for four preferred stocks, with the aim of enhancing liquidity and demand for these securities.

However, the regulatory landscape remained a mixed bag, as SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, a strong advocate for clearer cryptocurrency rules, was set to depart on October 2. Her absence followed a setback on Capitol Hill, where the Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Furthermore, Germany's proposed cryptocurrency tax reforms added new concerns, with a proposed substitute assessment potentially calculating taxes based on 50% of crypto sale proceeds when investors lack credible acquisition-cost records, drawing criticism from Circle executive Patrick Hansen.

Considering all factors, Bitcoin's weekend outlook featured a contest between robust institutional inflows and expanding corporate adoption against elevated bond yields and ongoing regulatory uncertainty. In the broader market, other leading cryptocurrencies such as Ether, XRP, Solana, BNB, Cardano, and Dogecoin experienced varying levels of gains, with meme coin TRUMP experiencing a slight decline.