Bitcoin holds near $66,300 as chips extend their rally and the yen hits a 40-year low
CoinDesk 2026-07-22 05:03:39
Context: Bitcoin's price has hovered near $66,300, maintaining a two-week high, as the global semiconductor rally continues and the Japanese yen reaches its weakest level in 40 years. The recent surge in bitcoin appears to be more closely tied to the powerful global semiconductor rally than to any crypto-specific catalyst. The sharp decline of the yen underscores mounting currency stress, which could bolster the long-term case for bitcoin as a fixed-supply asset.
Key Facts
- Bitcoin's price was up nearly 1% on the day and 3% on the week, with about $31 billion in trading volume and a 24-hour range of roughly $65,400 to $66,900.
- Ether traded near $1,935, up 3% on the week, while XRP added 2% to $1.14 and TRON edged up, with hyperliquid's HYPE being the day's laggard, down 4% to $60 and off 10% over seven sessions.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific equities gauge rose 1%, extending Tuesday's biggest one-day gain in a month, with South Korea's Kospi jumping 5% as a leveraged-position unwind that had pulled the benchmark nearly 30% off its peak appeared to be ending.
- The Japanese yen slid past 163 per dollar for the first time since 1986, extending a decline that Japanese intervention has failed to halt, with Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stating authorities remain ready to take "bold steps" as needed.
- Samsung and SK Hynix led the semiconductor rally, following a more than 5% jump in a U.S. semiconductor gauge on Tuesday that clawed the index back out of a technical bear-market territory.