Bitcoin price managed to reach $82,000 after the US Senate Banking Committee approved the initial progress of the digital asset market structure bill known as the ‘Clarity Act’.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin price was at $81,351, up 0.34% since it opened in early trading Friday in the Asian session.
Crypto markets surged on Thursday as positive developments regarding the crypto bill in the United States gave new confidence to investors.
The bill is considered important because it could create a clearer regulatory framework for the crypto industry in the United States.
The vote passed with a 15-9 result, including the support of two Democratic senators, thus allowing the bill to be brought to the full Senate for further consideration.
Investors see this development as a sign that the US government is becoming more open to the crypto industry.
As a result, Bitcoin surged to $82,000 before falling slightly to around $81,500, but still up around 2.5% in 24 hours.
Shares of crypto-related companies also received positive feedback. Coinbase shares rose 8% as investors believed clearer regulations could attract more large institutions to enter the digital asset market.
In addition, Bitcoin holding companies such as Strategy rose 7%, while Ethereum-focused company Bitmine rose 5.6%.
At the same time, positive sentiment also spread to the US stock market as a whole as the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indexes hit new highs.
One additional factor that helped market sentiment was the debut of AI chip company Cerebras on the stock market. The company's shares jumped up to 100% from its IPO price, indicating that investor interest in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector is still very strong.
Data center companies that were previously involved in Bitcoin mining but are now shifting to AI infrastructure also saw gains. Among them, Keel Infrastructure rose 9%, while IREN and Hive Digital rose 5% and 8% respectively.
