Why Is Bitcoin Rising? Hormuz De-Escalation and a Stalled US Crypto Bill Explained

Bitcoin's Move Above $65,000 — What Happened

CoinDesk reported that bitcoin rose to roughly $65,209 on 10 August 2026, with Nasdaq 100 index futures gaining around 0.45% at the same time, as reports emerged that Iran may be nearing a deal with Oman to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. FXStreet separately noted that gold and silver also climbed alongside the US Dollar that same day, as safe-haven demand and energy-driven inflation risk pulled markets in the same direction — an unusual combination that reflects how tangled this particular news cycle has become.

Why Bitcoin Is Trading Like a Risk Asset Right Now

Bitcoin is sometimes described as "digital gold" — an asset investors turn to specifically when they want to step outside traditional risk markets. But CoinDesk's reporting on 10 August shows bitcoin moving in the same direction as Nasdaq futures, not against them, as Hormuz risk eased. That pattern — rising alongside equities on good news, rather than falling as a safe-haven unwind — is a useful illustration that bitcoin's correlation with risk sentiment isn't fixed. It can behave like a safe haven in some cycles and like a high-beta risk asset in others, reflecting what may still be the uncertainty of its early-stage investment case.

The Hormuz Connection

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical shipping route for global oil, and the wider Strait of Hormuz story has been a major driver of cross-asset volatility in August 2026 — affecting oil, currencies, gold and, per this data, bitcoin too. When shipping-lane tensions ease, risk appetite broadly improves, and CoinDesk's reporting suggests bitcoin caught some of that tailwind alongside equity futures.

The US CLARITY Act — What It Is and Why the Delay Matters

The CLARITY Act is US legislation intended to set out when a digital asset should be treated as a security (regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC) versus a commodity (regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC), among other market-structure questions for exchanges, brokers and custodians. CryptoRank reported that the Senate will not vote on the bill before its August recess, pushing any floor action to September at the earliest and, combined with a packed autumn legislative calendar, making passage within 2026 look increasingly unlikely.

Cryptopolitan reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed the delay, saying Democrats were "insistent on no Clarity vote" that week, while adding that the bill's sponsors — including Senator Cynthia Lummis — would resume talks once the Senate returned. The Bitcoin Foundation's coverage noted the next major procedural step, a vote on the motion to proceed, is expected around 15 September 2026 — itself not a final vote on the bill, but a gatekeeping step before one could happen.

The Motley Fool reported that Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, short of the 60 needed to invoke cloture and overcome a filibuster, meaning the bill needs meaningful Democratic support to advance — support that has not yet materialised over disagreements covering custody rules, DeFi treatment and ethics provisions for federal officials holding digital assets.

This is US legislation, and it does not directly change how cryptoassets are regulated in the UK, where the sector remains largely unregulated with no consumer protection. But because so much crypto market infrastructure — exchanges, custodians, stablecoin issuers — is US-based or US-facing, continued regulatory limbo there is a genuine source of uncertainty that UK-based holders and traders are exposed to indirectly.

What Could Move Bitcoin Next

Alongside the Hormuz and CLARITY Act stories, flows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — regulated funds that hold bitcoin directly and trade on stock exchanges — are a separate demand signal market data providers track independently of day-to-day price moves.

None of these three threads points in a single obvious direction. They're presented here as factors currently in play, not as a prediction of where bitcoin's price goes next. Cryptoasset prices are highly volatile and can move sharply on very little notice.

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This article is for general information only and does not constitute investment advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any cryptoasset.