CRYPTO UPDATE: Bitcoin soars past 120k into US Crypto Week; BofA believe GENIUS/CLARITY Act will be passed

24 Hour Prices:

• 
  Bitcoin is on a stronger footing today, soaring past USD 120k in overnight trade to make a fresh ATH at USD 123,278. Recent price action has seen the digital gold dip off its best levels to currently trade just shy of USD 122k.


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  Upside over the past week has been attributed to; a) continued trade uncertainty, b) heightened odds of looser monetary policy in the US, c) US budget woes, d) optimism going into US “crypto week”.

Crypto Week

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  The US House announced the week of July 14th as “Crypto Week”, where lawmakers will be discussing the GENIUS Act, CLARITY Act and Anti CBDC Surveillance Act, aiming to push the former to President Trump’s desk for final approval.


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  GENIUS Act: The US House will vote on the GENIUS Act, where analysts at BofA believe it will likely be passed – in such a case, the act will appear on US President Trump’s desks for a final sign off. In brief, the bill aims to improve US leadership in blockchain innovation, with a set of rules for reserves, audits, disclosures and compliance. These will include (but not limited to); full reserve backing, annual audits, ban on yield-bearing stablecoins and limits on Big Tech as issuers.


• 
  CLARITY ACT: The US Senate will vote on the CLARITY Act, where analysts at BofA believe it will likely be passed – lawmakers have pushed for the CLARITY/GENIUS Acts to be passed together to speed up the progress. This bill aims to create a regulatory framework for crypto, through the SEC and CFTC.


• 
  Anti CBDC Surveillance Act: Aims to prohibit the Fed from issuing CBDC directly to individuals.


• Recent commentary on the GENIUS Act: Representative Davidson said he plans to oppose the Act, suggesting it should be amended.

Bank Commentary

• Bank of America writes that while it is still early to pick winners, analysts believe that infrastructure providers such as Stripe or the Ethereum platform could benefit from the transition into stablecoins.

In the news

• 
  Strategy (MSTR) bought 4,225 Bitcoins (w/e Jul 13) for USD 472.5mln at an average price of USD 111,827.


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  Ark Invest CEO, Cathie Wood, spoke positively regarding Ethereum’s effort to scale its base layer with zero-knowledge proofs. (CCN)


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  CoinShares writes that global crypto investment products sees its second-largest weekly inflows on record. (CoinShares)


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  Metaplanet purchases approximately USD 94mln worth of Bitcoin, taking its total holdings to 16,352 Bitcoins. (Newswires)


• BoE’s Bailey provided cautious comments on the latest US pro-crypto policies, highlighting risks to financial stability. (CoinDesk)


• Bhutan moved USD 62mln in Bitcoin to Binance over the past four days, via Arkham. (The Block)


• Czech Central Bank purchased 51,732 Coinbase shares in Q2’25. (The Block)

Macro schedule: Chinese GDP, Retail Sales (Tue), US CPI (Tue), US Retail Sales (Thu)

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  CHINESE GDP/RETAIL SALES/HOUSE PRICES (TUE): The focus will be on Chinaʼs Q2 GDP, with the latest Reuters poll forecasting Q2 Y/Y growth at 5.1% (vs 5.4% in Q1) and Q/Q at 0.9% (vs 1.2% in Q1). The YTD Y/Y rate is seen at 5.6% (prev. 5.8%). The poll also forecast 2025 GDP growth at 4.6% vs Chinaʼs target of “around 5%”. Analysts note that while headline growth is likely to hit the 5% annual target, concerns persist around underlying domestic demand, employment, and deflationary pressures.


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  US CPI (TUE): The consensus expects US CPI to rise by 0.3% M/M in June, picking up in pace vs the +0.1% in May; core CPI is also expected to rise by +0.3% M/M in June after the +0.1% in May. Wells Fargo says the data is likely to show inflation beginning to strengthen again, albeit not enough to alarm Fed officials at this stage. It said that "amid a softer labour market and services inflation dissipating a bit more, the pickup in core inflation stemming from tariffs is likely to look more like a bump than a spike." The data will be framed in the context of how US tariff policy is impacting prices, and the consequential knock-on onto Fed policy.


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  US RETAIL SALES (THU): Analysts expect US retail sales to be unchanged in June, with the consensus predicting +0.0% M/M from a prior -0.9%; the ex-autos measure is seen rising +0.3% M/M vs a prior -0.3%. Bank of America's monthly consumer checkpoint data suggests that there was an overall rise of +0.7% M/M in June, though services spending is seen slipping for a third straight month. Its aggregated credit card data showed that credit and debit card spending per household was up +0.2% Y/Y in June (vs +0.8% Y/Y in May), and seasonally adjusted, spending per household rose +0.3% M/M, only partially unwinding the monthly declines of 0.2% and 0.7% in April and May.

Check out the Newsquawk Research Suite for the full previews for each event

Liquidation data, via Coinglass:

• Bitcoin (BTC) 24h long: USD 17.13mln / 24h short: USD 458.69mln


• Ethereum (ETH) 24h long: USD 29.79mln / 24h short: USD 62.00mln


• Ripple (XRP) 24h long: USD 11.24mln / 24h short: USD 12.69mln


• Solana (SOL) 24h long: USD 4.30mln / 24h short: USD 6.71mln


• Dogecoin (DOGE) 24h long: USD 4.91mln / 24h short: USD 5.04mln

14 Jul 2025 - 14:15- ForexData- Source: Newsquawk