Bitcoin slides below $96,000 as key crypto bill stalls in Congress

Bitcoin’s BTC$95,956.03 rally stalled on Thursday, with the largest cryptocurrency quickly falling back below $96,000 as key U.S. digital asset legislation hit a roadblock late Wednesday.

The decline followed bitcoin’s multi-day rise this week, which peaked at just shy of $98,000 on Wednesday.

Crypto-related stocks were sharply lower in concert. Coinbase (COIN), Circle (CRCL) and Strategy (MSTR) were among those with 3%-5% declines.

Bitcoin’s rally this week, which saw it rise from $90,000 to a two-month high, occurred as global jitters centered on Iran and potential U.S. intervention in the country. U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs pulled in over $1.7 billion in fresh capital in the first three days of the week, their strongest inflow streak in several months.

The reversal today came alongside signs that the U.S. was not going to move on Iran, but also coincided with the Senate Banking Committee canceling the crypto market structure markup, scheduled for Thursday. This happened after crypto exchange giant Coinbase (COIN) pulled back support from the bill late on Wednesday.

Crypto’s decline comes as U.S. stocks are rallying — the Nasdaq is higher by nearly 1% and the S&P 500 by 0.65%.