Bitcoin traded at 86,423 USD, rebounding sharply from below 76,000 USD the previous week, as market analysts and financial executives argue that the worst of the cryptocurrency market downturn has passed. According to BeInCrypto, this recovery occurred despite headwinds from a U.S. interest rate hike and the legislative defeat of the CLARITY Act in the U.S. Senate.
iTrustCapital CEO Declares End to Crypto Winter
Kevin Maloney, CEO of cryptocurrency and equity retirement platform iTrustCapital, stated in an interview with Paul Barron that the prolonged market slump commonly known as the “crypto winter” has concluded. According to Maloney, his firm held approximately $350 million in uninvested customer capital, a “substantial portion” of which is now being redeployed into the market.
“Bitcoin braucht den Clarity Act nicht,” Maloney said during the interview, dismissing the necessity of the stalled regulatory bill for the digital asset’s upward trajectory. Maloney identified a weekly close above 85,000 USD as a key technical threshold that places Bitcoin in a strong position.
Fundstrat Capital Cites Federal Reserve Peak
Tom Lee, Chief Investment Officer at Fundstrat Capital, characterized the recent Federal Reserve rate increase as the peak of monetary tightening rather than the start of an aggressive contractionary cycle. According to Lee’s weekly market updates, an upcoming government adjustment to inflation measurement scheduled for September 30 is expected to drop the Fed’s preferred Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index from 3,4 % to roughly 3%.
“Strenger kann die Fed nicht werden,” Lee stated, indicating that the central bank lacks room for further monetary tightening. Lee added that an additional 0.25 percentage point increase would fail to destabilize the broader economy or equities markets.
Legislative Rejection and Federal Reserve Policy Shift
The market resilience followed two major policy developments in mid-September 2026. On September 15, the CLARITY Act failed in the U.S. Senate by a 50 to 49 vote, missing the requisite 60-vote threshold to determine which federal agency would regulate digital assets. One day later, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to a target range of 3.75 % to 4%, marking the central bank’s first rate hike since 2023 and initially driving Bitcoin below 76,000 USD.
Diverging Signals in ETF Flows and Central Bank Projections
Despite the price recovery, underlying market metrics present mixed signals. According to central bank projections, 16 out of 18 Federal Reserve officials anticipate at least one additional interest rate increase before the end of the year. Furthermore, fund data shows that investors withdrew $450 million from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on September 15.
Market participants now eye the September 30 inflation data release as the next major catalyst for digital asset valuations.
Related reading