Bitcoin Surges 8% to $73,856 as Trump Slams Banks, Demands Congress Pass Crypto Clarity Act

Bitcoin surged over 8% on Wednesday, breaking through $73,000 for the first time in weeks as President Donald Trump waded into an increasingly bitter fight over crypto regulation — siding decisively with the industry against Wall Street's biggest banks.

The cryptocurrency was trading at $73,856.75 by 3:00 p.m. ET, according to Business Insider, marking a dramatic breakout from the range-bound trading that had defined the market through February. Crypto-linked stocks rallied in tandem: Coinbase jumped 16%, Strategy climbed 11%, and Robinhood added 8%.

The catalyst was a combative post from Trump on Truth Social, where he accused major banks of deliberately undermining the GENIUS Act — legislation that created a regulatory framework for stablecoins — and demanded Congress pass the Clarity Act, which would establish clearer rules for the broader crypto industry. The Clarity Act has already passed the House with bipartisan support but awaits a Senate vote.

Trump's intervention came shortly after a reported meeting with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong at the White House, though details of that conversation were not disclosed. The president's position aligns closely with Coinbase's preferred regulatory approach, which treats crypto firms as distinct from traditional banks rather than subjecting them to identical rules.

That distinction is precisely what's fueling the current regulatory battle. In a Tuesday interview with CNBC, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon argued that if crypto firms are "holding balances and paying interest, that's the bank. You should be regulated like a bank." Dimon framed the issue as one of competitive fairness and public safety — a view shared by much of the traditional banking sector, which sees stablecoin yields as an end-run around banking regulations.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently proposed rules under the GENIUS Act that would "establish transition standards for certain state-qualified issuers with more than $10 billion in outstanding issuance and addresses affiliate arrangements and limitations relating to stablecoin yield," according to lawyers at Paul Hastings. Those proposed rules have become a flashpoint, with banks arguing they don't go far enough and crypto firms warning they could stifle innovation.

Trump's message was unambiguous: if Congress doesn't act, the crypto industry will relocate to China. It's a threat that carries weight in Washington, where legislators have spent years fretting about losing technological leadership to Beijing. The president's willingness to publicly attack Wall Street on behalf of crypto marks a significant escalation in what has become a full-throated political war over the future of digital finance.

From a market perspective, Bitcoin's Wednesday rally represents more than just a reaction to political noise. The cryptocurrency had been stuck in a frustrating rut through February, briefly touching $63,000 last weekend amid broader risk-off sentiment triggered by geopolitical tensions. According to FXStreet, Bitcoin "looked more resilient on Tuesday than the US indices" even as the Nasdaq 100 lost more than 2.5% intraday before recovering half those losses. The fact that crypto remained "unaffected by this turbulence" suggests some traders may be viewing Bitcoin as a safe haven — a remarkable shift for an asset class long dismissed as pure speculation.

On weekly timeframes, Bitcoin's RSI index has begun rising from oversold territory, though FXStreet cautioned that "the situation is too fragile to say that the bottom has been reached." The cryptocurrency remains vulnerable to stock market volatility, which forces institutional investors to reduce leverage. Still, the intraday dynamics on Wednesday showed "a sequence of higher local lows," a technical pattern that often precedes sustained upward moves.

The broader crypto market capitalization stood at $2.34 trillion on Wednesday, up slightly from $2.33 trillion the day before — a modest gain that FXStreet described as "a victory for cryptocurrencies" given the sell-off in traditional financial markets and gold. Total market cap has since expanded to over $2.43 trillion, according to Cryptonews, as sentiment improves across the sector.

Institutional money is flowing back in. Payment giant Visa and stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge announced they will introduce stablecoin cards in more than 100 countries, expanding a product already operational in 18 markets with access to over 175 million points of sale. Mining company Riot Platforms reported record annual revenue for 2025, nearly doubling in 12 months due to a strategic shift toward artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Not everyone is turning bullish. Mining company Core Scientific disclosed in its annual report that it will sell all 2,537 BTC it owns by the end of the first quarter, using the proceeds to increase liquidity and finance its AI strategy. And 10x Research warned that "there are no signs of an exit from the global bearish trend yet," despite inflows into ETFs and the disappearance of Bitcoin's discount on the Coinbase exchange.

But the momentum is shifting. VanEck believes Bitcoin is "forming a price bottom and will begin to grow slowly this year," while the London Crypto Club suggested that escalating military operations involving the US and Israel against Iran could paradoxically boost Bitcoin as a "hedge against the collapse of existing economic and political structures." It's a theory that would have seemed absurd a few years ago, when Bitcoin crashed alongside stocks during every crisis. Now, with institutional adoption deepening and regulatory clarity potentially on the horizon, the asset is behaving differently.

The real test comes in the Senate. If the Clarity Act passes, it could unlock a new wave of institutional capital that has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for legal certainty. If it stalls — or if the final version tilts too far toward traditional banking rules — the industry's threats about relocating to friendlier jurisdictions may prove more than bluster. Trump's public pressure campaign suggests he understands the stakes. Whether Congress does remains to be seen, but Wednesday's rally shows the market is betting on progress.