Altcoins
Bitcoin Surges Above $67K as Crypto Rebounds Amid Global IT Outage; Solana’s SOL Leads Altcoins — TradingView News
The cryptocurrency rally resumed on Friday, with bitcoin {{BTC}} hitting its highest price in a month, as the world grapples with a major computer outage.
BTC began rising from $64,000 during early hours of U.S. trading and surpassed $67,000 later in the day for the first time since June 17. The price surge was accompanied by strong trading volumes for BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF IIBITSAt press time, the largest cryptocurrency was trading just over $67,000, up 5.5% over the past 24 hours.
Solana {{SOL}} led among major altcoins with an 8.5% increase over the same period, surpassing $170 for the first time since early June. The token outperformed the large-scale digital asset benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which rose 4.3%.
Ethereum ether {{ETH}} reclaimed the $3,500 level but underperformed with a 3% gain. The first spot-based ETH exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States is likely to begin trading on Tuesday of next week, Cboe’s regulatory filings on Friday showed.
Cryptocurrencies slipped lower 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 fell 0.8%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.6% as of 1 p.m. ET, while gold fell more than 2% on the day after hitting a new all-time high earlier in the week.
As a software update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike caused widespread cyber outages around the world, shutting down airlines, banks and businesses, some cryptocurrency industry observers have highlighted the resilience of decentralized systems like public blockchains over centralized networks.
Charles Edwards, founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund Capriole Investments, noted the rapid growth of bitcoin as the traditional U.S. market opened, perhaps a sign of offers from institutional investors.
“Did some institution just wake up and decide that Bitcoin is a safe haven and decentralized store of value, while global technology and banking systems fail due to Microsoft’s blue screen of death?” he wrote on X.
Bitcoin Aims for $100,000 by Year-End
Looking at a longer time frame, bitcoin is trading near the midpoint of a multi-month sideways channel between $56,000 and $73,000. Spot prices may be capped in the near term, but traders are increasingly positioning themselves for a breakout to new all-time highs ahead of the U.S. election 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, a cryptocurrency analyst at Steno Research, has expressed a bullish outlook for the second half of the year for crypto assets, supported by multiple tailwinds, including upcoming U.S. interest rate cuts, rising liquidity, regulatory clarity in Europe, and the growing possibility of a more crypto-friendly U.S. leadership.
“Bitcoin to $100,000. Ethereum to $6,500,” he said of his price targets.
Update (July 19, 20:25 UTC): Update title, story with latest prices. Adds a paragraph with ether ETHUSD Cboe price and documentation on spot ETF trading.