Stocks reached a record $70.5 trillion market value on AI-led gains, while Bitcoin stayed near $64,600 as shrinking stablecoin supply, policy uncertainty and questions over ETF demand capped momentum.
U.S. equities have widened their lead over Bitcoin this month, with the S&P 500 rising 3.12% and adding about $2.1 trillion in value to reach a record $70.5 trillion, while Bitcoin gained roughly 2% and traded around $64,600. Adam Haeems of Tesseract Group and Paul Howard of Wincent said the stock rally has been concentrated in artificial intelligence, semiconductor and mega-cap names, limiting the spillover to Bitcoin, which has little direct exposure to those themes. Crypto is also contending with a $120 million Coldcard hack, uncertainty around the Clarity Act, reports of Strategy selling Bitcoin, and shrinking stablecoin supply, with USDT falling from about $190 billion in April to $183 billion and USDC from $79.5 billion to $72 billion. Analysts said fourth-quarter regulatory clarity, renewed stablecoin growth and sustained net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs could provide a new catalyst, though some of the ETF buying may reflect arbitrage and traders remain cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve and an early-October cycle-bottom expectation tied to Bitcoin's halving cycle.