Bitcoin holds above $84,000 as oil falls, despite more than $600 million of fund outflows last week

Bitcoin traded above $84,000 early Monday and held onto its weekend gains as oil fell, CoinDesk reported. The rise came even though US spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) lost more than $600 million to outflows last week. Investors withdrew $487 million on October 7 and $244 million on October 8 before flows turned positive late in the week. During that selling, bitcoin fell to about $82,700 as US Treasury yields rose and the dollar strengthened.

Gold moved by less. It edged higher toward $4,200 as traders weighed the energy truce against risks in the Middle East. Spot gold was about $4,202 an ounce, up 0.16% over 24 hours, with another data provider showing a 0.25% gain.

The two assets rose for opposite reasons. Bitcoin gained when lower oil prices reduced the chance of further Fed rate increases, which is how a liquidity-sensitive asset behaves. Gold gained because the Gulf conflict has not ended. When the dollar rose last week, the two assets moved apart, and this has happened at each stress point since the Iran war began.

In Washington, the failure of the Clarity Act, the crypto market-structure bill, has left the rules in the hands of regulators. Industry executives told CoinDesk they see openings in tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi) and deal-making. Lawyers warned that rules made by agencies leave oversight of spot crypto markets unresolved and offer no lasting legal certainty.