Bitcoin Tops $65,340 as BIP 110 Fight Raises Hard Fork Risk

Bitcoin breached $65,000 on Friday, hitting an August peak of $65,340 before consolidating just under the mark with a 0.5% daily gain. Market volatility drove total crypto liquidations to $192 million, heavily dominated by $112 million in short position wipeouts.

A strong rally followed, pushing bitcoin up by over $1,000 in just five hours to reach its daily peak. Although it retreated below $64,800 around 10:10 a.m. EST, a subsequent relief rally sent it rocketing past $65,000 for the second time. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading just below that mark, bringing its daily gains to 0.5%.

Despite the relatively flat price action, the movement pushed bitcoin’s market capitalization back past $1.3 trillion. The marginal daily gain capped off a 3.3% weekly rise during a turbulent period in which controversy over the CLARITY Act reached a crescendo.

In the derivatives market, short liquidations topped $30 million for the second consecutive day, while long liquidations neared $8 million. Across the broader crypto economy, total liquidations hit $192 million, with short wipes accounting for just under $112 million.

Others warn that if miners don’t back the proposal, this has deep implications for bitcoin, which has retained its status as the number one decentralized network despite challenges including the 2017 hard fork.

Still, much like the legislative back-and-forth over the CLARITY Act, the BIP 110 debate appears to have had a limited impact on bitcoin’s price. In fact, some market observers suggest bitcoin’s upward trend ahead of the BIP 110 deadline is driven by investors accumulating coins in anticipation of a potential hard fork—a scenario that would automatically grant them equivalent tokens on the split chain.