Bitcoin reclaims $80,000, Solana and Hyperliquid rally as crypto markets shrug off Clarity setback

The crypto market is closing the week on a high note, with assets jumping across the board as federal agencies continue to innovate through regulation after the Clarity Act hit a roadblock in the Senate.

Bitcoin's price reclaimed the $80,000 level on Friday morning, jumping more than 5%. The apex cryptocurrency (BTC) had been consolidating around $78,000-$75,000 in recent weeks.

Earlier today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed its crypto asset rulemaking to the White House for review. This comes one day after the Securities and Exchange Commission released its long-awaited innovation exemption to "bring America's capital markets into the digital age by allowing onchain trading of tokenized stocks.

Meanwhile, a House panel voted earlier this week to move forward with the American Reserve Modernization Act, which would direct the Treasury Department to maintain a "secure Bitcoin storage facility."

"The industry doesn't need Congress," Dan Morehead, Pantera Capital founder and managing partner, told CNBC on Friday. "The SEC and CFTC are enacting all of the things that would have been in Clarity anyway."

Morehead said people remain bullish on bitcoin because the U.S. Federal Reserve is "still way behind on inflation... rates should be much higher than they are today."

Among the top 10 biggest cryptocurrencies, Solana (SOL) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) led the way, jumping about 10%. Morehead said Pantera is "much more bullish" on Solana than Ethereum (ETH), but believes both are "valid" and that dozens of important blockchains will emerge in the long term.

For its part, (HYPE) hit a new all-time high above the $90 level, trading around $91.60 at publication time. Hyperliquid also launched manual borrows, which allow users to supply HYPE and BTC as collateral to borrow stablecoins like USDC and USDT.

For his part, entrepeneur and investor Kevin O'Leary told The Starting Block he's buying new crypto positions and watching for a major stock exchange to adopt a blockchain. "I'm back in the saddle buying new positions, putting my bets on for this next cycle," he said.

On Thursday, JPMorgan analysts said high short interest and hedging around BlackRock's IBIT ETF show investors are still more cautious on bitcoin than gold. If this hedging eases, however, it could give bitcoin more support relative to gold.

"Markets are trading suspiciously well after the double whammy of Clarity Act failure and Warsh's hawkish hike on Wednesday," Jeff Anderson, Head of US, STS Digital, said Thursday. USD yields are lower, BTC is marginally higher while altcoins outperform, and the Nasdaq rips back to recent highs. Warsh is now perceived to be a bump in the road, so traders are happy to see the back of him without too much damage being done."