The pioneer cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) reached a daily high of $80,320, up 2% in 24 hours, on Monday. Here’s what’s triggering the crypto growth to levels unseen since January.
On Monday, May 4, Bitcoin reached a $80,000 price mark often seen as critical psychological threshold for the world’s most valuable crypto token.
Bitcoin Market Overview
Besides psychological influence of the $80K milestone on crypto investors, this price is pracyically a cost-basis level for a large cohort of short-term holders. Therefore, the latest breakout liquidated $150 million in shorts in an hour post reaching the symbolic threshold, and about $250 million over the day.
The last time BTC crypto reached price over $80K per token was on January 31st, 2026. Since February, geopolitical and economic factors have dampened Bitcoin’s value to around $60,000. Only in April, BTC started some rebound to more solid levels of $70-75K.
Much of Bitcoin supply (about 475,000 BTC) was bought and sold in the price range of $77,800–$80,880. For those buyers, the price come-back to that same range is a sign of potential “breakeven” re-sale. Massive sales are the one factor that creates selling pressure which can slow or stop the Bitcoin price from rising.
Yet, today’s buyers are most likely institutional, since the price spike was pushed by two consecutive hourly taker buy volume spikes on Binance: $1.19 billion in the first hour and $792 million in the second, aggregating to $1.98 billion in a two-hour window. Big crypto players (like funds or large companies) can potentially maintain their buying volumes so that the market can push through that heavy selling zone and continue rising.
Why Bitcoin Price Is Rising Today?
We will leave the general market conditions overview for more thorough analyses today and focus, instead, on what’s happening to Bitcoin itself, associated crypto regulations and other factors that could push institutions towards the first and most popular cryptocurrency BTC.
Coinbase Confirms Bipartisan Deal on the U.S. Clarity Act for Crypto
The CLARITY Act currently discussed among the U.S. regulators is supposed to split oversight of digital assets between the SEC and CFTC entities, clarifying which tokens are securities and which are commodities. Presumably, major ETF-ied tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, etc can be declared as digital commodities. With this clarity in mind, instead of regulation by enforcement, trading platforms can be properly registered and unlock some yield opportunities for their customers.
Crypto exchange Coinbase representative has just announced that a “bipartisan deal” has been reached on a pivotal provision within the long-awaited bill: stablecoin rewards. Disagreements on stablecoin yield habe been major factor holding the regulation adoption back. Now, the compromise has been reportedly reached, so that stablecoin issuers can offer rewards based on platform usage and activity rather than “passive yield” without being classified as interest-bearing bank deposits and posing risks to bank systems.
Now, the CLARITY Act is expected to move forward in the Senate, giving not only the stablecoin market but also Bitcoin and other major crypto altcoins hopes for legal clarity and transparent, facilitated trading processes.
Paradigm Offers Way for Bitcoin to Become Quantum Threat-Resistant
VC firm Paradigm, via its partner Dan Robinson, has proposed Provable Address-Control Timestamps (PACTs) mechanism for pre-2012 Bitcoin holders to prove their ownership without moving their funds or revealing their identity. Along with preserving Bitcoin’s decentralization and confidentiality principles, this solution would suggestedly help address a network vulnerability loophole.
On one hand, Bitcoin has already incorporated quantum-resistant safeguards, e.g. resilient signature algorithms such as ECDSA, single-use addresses and hierarchical keys (BIP-32). It happened long time ago. However, pre-2012 addresses, such as the one created by BTC misterious founder(s) Satoshi Nakamoto, remain exposed, as they do not benefit from these modern protections. If hacked, that would affect dozens of billions in BTC, which is highly-undesirable for the crypto market.
Here’s how it works: the holder generates a freee time-stamped crypto proof via OpenTimestamps. If a quantum threat ever occurs, a STARK (zero-knowledge) proof enables funds to be released without revealing sensitive information. The solution added to already existing precautions may make the Bitcoin blockchain network totally resistant to quantum attacks without decentralisation compromise.
If Bitcoin Continues Growth to Over $82K, $1B Short Liquidations Would Amplify Bullish Trend
Industry analysts have calculated that if Bitcoin rises above $82,218, about $1.01 billion in short positions could be forced to close. Investors anticipating this scenario might be interested in getting some BTC before that mark is hit.
Short sellers are betting the price will fall, but if it rises too much, exchanges automatically close their positions by buying Bitcoin. That forced buying pushes the price even higher, which can trigger more liquidations in a chain reaction (known as a “short squeeze”). This is why the market could grow quickly, if BTC continues its surge past the suggested mark. Losing traders are forced to buy, adding extra upward pressure, and market’s bullish run goes on.
