Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Surpasses $66K Amid CrowdStrike Global Outage; Solana (SOL) Hits $170
The crypto rally resumed on Friday with bitcoin (BTC) hitting its highest price in a month as the world grappled with a major IT outage.
BTC began its climb from $64,000 during early US trading and surpassed $67,000 by the end of the day for the first time since June 17. The price increase was accompanied by strong trading volumes for BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT). At press time, the largest crypto asset changed hands just above $67,000, up 5.5% in the past 24 hours.
Solana (SUN) led the major altcoins with an 8.5% increase over the same period, surpassing $170 for the first time since early June. The token outperformed the broad digital asset benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which rose 4.3%.
Ethereum Ether (ETH) reclaimed the $3,500 level but underperformed with a 3% increase. The first US spot-based ETH exchange-traded funds (ETF) will likely start trading on Tuesday next week, Friday regulatory records by Cboe showed.
Cryptocurrencies fell earlier this week in tandem with a sell-off in U.S. stocks. However, Friday’s rally came as major stock indexes continued their losing streak.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was down 0.8% while the S&P 500 lost 0.6% as of 1 p.m. ET, while gold plunged more than 2% intraday after hitting a new record high earlier this week.
How a software update from cybersecurity services provider CrowdStrike caused widespread computer outages around the world, disrupting airlines, banks and businesses, some Cryptocurrency observers emphasized the resilience of decentralized systems like public blockchains compared to centralized networks.
Charles Edwards, founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund Capriole Investments, noted that bitcoin’s rapid rise coincided with the opening of the traditional U.S. market, perhaps a sign of supply from institutional investors.
“Did some institution just wake up and decide that Bitcoin is a safe haven, decentralized store of value, while global technology and banking systems fail due to Microsoft’s blue screen of death?” he posted in X.
Looking at a longer time frame, bitcoin is trading around the midpoint of a multi-month sideways channel between $56,000 and $73,000. Spot prices may be range-bound in the near term, but traders are increasingly positioning for a breakout to new all-time highs heading into the U.S. elections in November, digital asset hedge fund QCP said in a market update. QCP analysts noted strong demand for December $100,000 bitcoin call options from institutions.
Mads Eberhardt, cryptocurrency analyst at Steno Research, expressed an optimistic outlook for the second half of the year for crypto assets, supported by several tailwinds including US interest rate cuts, increased liquidity, regulatory clarity in Europe and increased chances of more crypto-friendly US leadership.
“Bitcoin at $100,000. Ethereum at $6,500,” he he said about your price targets.
Update (July 19, 20:25 UTC): Updates title, story with latest prices. Adds paragraph with ether (ETH) price and Cboe record on spot ETF trading.