MarketsJul 22, 2026
Why Crypto's Rebound Is Starting to Gain Conviction
Market Sentiment
Rhea Lobo
Discover
After months of false starts, crypto finally has momentum. Bitcoin's recent rally toward $67K reflects a shift in the underlying conditions that had kept the market range-bound, and three catalysts are now aligning.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly stated that lawmakers were at the "1-yard line" on the Clarity Act, a long-awaited piece of legislation meant to establish clearer rules for digital assets.
He urged Congress to pass the bill before leaving for recess. That single comment sent Bitcoin, and Ether higher in a single session. Smaller tokens also participated in the rally. Bitcoin has now risen roughly 13% this month after two consecutive monthly declines.
Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., described Bitcoin as having quietly built a nice base since early June, trading in a sideways range before the Clarity Act news pushed it toward the top of that band.
The bill's passage, if it happens, could serve as the breakout catalyst the market has been waiting for.
Options flows in crypto-linked stocks tell a similar story. More than 114K calls traded on Coinbase versus just under 50K puts on the same day Bessent spoke.
More than $100M in options premium traded on Coinbase by midday, with $80M tied to call contracts.
Robinhood Markets mirrored the bullishness, with 125K calls traded out of 170K total contracts. Strategy, the bitcoin treasury company that's down more than 75% over the past year, saw traders buy twice as many calls as puts.
Options in the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF reflected a more neutral-to-bullish stance, with twice as many calls bought as puts.
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Crypto treasury companies a.k.a. firms that raise public market capital specifically to accumulate Bitcoin or other tokens, have been badly bruised. At their October peak, these companies held more than $120B in assets.
They now control roughly $75B and are sitting on unrealized losses running into the tens of billions, according to data from Artemis Analytics.
Several SPAC-backed deals have collapsed entirely. A $1B vehicle was scrapped. A $1.5B deal for a company called Ether Machine fell apart.
BSTR Holdings, co-founded by cryptographer Adam Back, scrapped its own planned merger, citing current market conditions. A company called Avalanche Treasury Corp. that did complete its SPAC listing in June is now down more than 70% since it began trading.
Bitcoin itself has fallen roughly 50% since its October peak, even with recent gains.
While Bitcoin draws headlines, S&P Dow Jones Indices and crypto fund Pantera Capital launched a new benchmark that deliberately excludes it. The S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index tracks 18 tokens screened for one thing: protocol revenue that flows back to holders.
Bitcoin earns no protocol revenue and was excluded on those grounds. The index carries Ether, BNB, Solana, TRON, and Hyperliquid as its largest weights. It returned 8.18% annually in simulated testing from June 2021 through June 2026.
Pantera is already in conversations with asset managers about building ETFs on the index. The firm noted that 89% of family offices still hold no crypto at all, citing JPMorgan Private Bank research.
The market stirring right now is overlapping three catalysts: a regulatory catalyst, a derivatives market voting with real money, and institutional infrastructure quietly being built for the next wave of buyers.
