Bitcoin Price Falls. SEC Drops Binance Case in 'Huge Win' for Crypto. — Barrons.com
By Elsa Ohlen and George GloverBitcoin was falling further back from its recent record high on Friday even with major regulatory developments for the crypto industry.The Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed its lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance according to a court filing Thursday, the latest example of the watchdog walking back Biden-era cases against key digital-asset companies."Huge win for crypto today," Binance said in a statement posted on X. "Thank you to [SEC] Chairman [Paul] Atkins and the Trump team for pushing back against regulation by enforcement."A joint filing by the SEC, Binance, and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao noted that the regulator had in January set up a task force "dedicated to helping the Commission develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets."However, Bitcoin was down 2.3% over the past 24 hours to $105,935, according to CoinDesk data. It follows a week where the world's largest crypto has mostly hovered between $107,000 and $110,000 after hitting a record high of over $111,000 last week.Bitcoin is still up over 50% in the last 12 months.Ether was down 3.4% and XRP fell 3.9% early Friday, while Solana dropped 5.3%. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were a touch lower.In what could become the second big congressional effort to regulate the U.S. crypto industry, the House of Representatives introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which "would establish a regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States," Thursday.It comes after the Senate last week advanced legislation for stablecoins--a type of digital tokens pegged to a fiat currency.Crypto analysts have attributed a strong month for many big cryptos to an improving regulatory landscape, ETF inflows, corporate interest and some macro tailwinds. Bitcoin is up 10% over the past 30 days, while Ether has soared 45%.XRP is trading largely flat over the past month while Solana has dropped 5%.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.