What happened: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) surged more than 5% to hover above $81,000 on Friday.
What’s behind the move: The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose as traders shifted into risk-on mode, looking past the failure of the Clarity Act and a Federal Reserve rate hike this week.
Crypto derivatives traders were strongly bullish, heavily positioned in call options to bet on a move higher.
“Once bitcoin broke past the resistance level around $78,000, shorts got liquidated, pushing it toward $80,000,” Nic Puckrin, cross-asset analyst and founder of Coin Bureau, told Yahoo Finance.
“The real test is now in the $80,000-$82,000 range, where resistance is much stronger,” he added.
What else you need to know: The broader crypto market has remained resilient this week despite the Clarity Act failing to clear a vote on cloture in the Senate. The bill aimed to establish a comprehensive federal framework for digital asset markets.
When the measure failed to pass, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a new temporary exemption on Thursday to allow trading in certain tokenized stocks on blockchain venues for the next five years.
Meanwhile, the a congressional House of Representatives committee advanced the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill on Thursday. The measure would lock US government-held tokens in a federal reserve for at least 20 years and require regular audits of the holdings.
While it cleared the House committee on a strict party-line split, the bill still needs approval from the full House and Senate to become law.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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