Bitcoin, Ethereum Climb as Weak Jobs Data Collides With a Stalled Crypto Bill in Washington
Markets Shrug Off a Disappointing Jobs Report — and Rally Anyway
Crypto traders woke up to a surprise on Friday: instead of the modest job growth Wall Street expected, the U.S. economy actually lost jobs in July. That miss triggered a familiar pattern in risk assets — bad economic news, read as a signal the Federal Reserve may need to ease up on rates, sent both Bitcoin and Ethereum higher through the morning session. Bitcoin pushed from its opening print toward the mid-$65,000s, while Ethereum edged back above the $1,900 mark. It's a reminder that, this deep into 2026, crypto still trades as much on macro headlines as it does on blockchain-specific news.
Washington's Crypto Bill Hits Another Wall
While traders were digesting the labor numbers, a longer-running story continued to hang over the market: the CLARITY Act, the bill meant to finally give digital assets a clear regulatory home in the U.S., is once again stuck. With the Senate heading into its August recess, momentum for a floor vote has stalled, even as procedural maneuvering keeps the door open for a vote right around this week. For an industry that has spent years asking regulators for a rulebook, the delay extends a familiar cycle of near-misses — leaving exchanges, custodians, and institutional allocators to keep operating in a gray zone for a while longer.
Where That Leaves Traders
Put together, the two stories tell a split story about crypto's relationship with Washington right now. On one hand, monetary policy expectations are doing real work — a weak labor market nudges the Fed toward rate cuts, and rate-cut hopes are bullish for risk assets like BTC and ETH. On the other hand, the legislative track that's supposed to bring long-term legitimacy to the asset class keeps slipping. Short-term, that combination usually means continued volatility: price action driven by macro surprises, layered on top of a market that's still waiting for Congress to finish its homework. Traders watching both threads should expect choppier sessions until either the rate picture or the regulatory picture becomes clearer.
