Bitcoin’s Resilience Tested By US Legal Setbacks

While the regulatory climate in the United States remains uncertain, bitcoin surprises by surpassing $95,700. This weekly high comes despite the postponement of the CLARITY Act review, a key text for crypto regulation. Where markets once reacted with panic, resilience now dominates. Should this be seen as a sign of market maturity or a deceptive lull ?

A BTC rebound despite the regulatory deadlock

On January 13th, bitcoin reached a peak of $95,700, precisely when the US Senate committees announced the postponement of the CLARITY Act review, a bill aimed at clarifying the regulatory framework of the US crypto market.

This text, debated for months, was initially scheduled for a vote in January. John Boozman, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, believes the delay is due to “unresolved disagreements over incentives related to stablecoins, DeFi oversight, and agency jurisdiction”.

Despite this, markets have not reacted with the usual nervousness seen in past regulatory episodes. Bitcoin briefly dropped below $91,000 before rising again, crossing the $95,700 mark during the US session.

Several data points reinforce the hypothesis of a market that has become more mature and less reactive to political uncertainty :

• Net flows to exchanges remained low, indicating no massive move toward selling ;

• The on-chain SOPR (Spent Output Profit Ratio) indicator, which remains close to 1, shows low profit taking in this bullish phase ;

• No significant increase in on-chain spending volumes, indicating a voluntary inertia among BTC holders ;

• According to XWIN Research analysis, investors seem to anticipate a long-term horizon, without seeking to react short-term to the bill’s postponement.

These elements suggest a form of structural stabilization in BTC holders’ behavior, where waiting prevails over panic. The market seems to view the CLARITY Act less as an immediate threat and more as a future integration step, whose precise timing has become secondary.

Weakened ETFs and retail investors’ disengagement

Alongside this price rise, tensions persist on the institutional financial products side, particularly the spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Analyst Darkfost notes these funds have experienced the largest liquidity drop ever recorded, with over $6 billion withdrawn since the peak reached in October 2025. With an average realized price for these ETFs near $86,000, a large portion of institutional positions is now in latent unrealized losses.

Although flows have shown signs of stabilization over the past two weeks, this pressure on ETFs suggests that optimism is not widespread across the market.

Moreover, another concerning signal is the marked absence of retail investor demand in the current recovery. According to CryptoQuant data, 30-day BTC demand for small wallets (between $0 and $10,000) remains negative, sharply contrasting previous bullish phases.

Thus, the Coinbase Premium index, which measures the gap between Coinbase prices (dominating the US market) and those on other platforms, is still not positive. As CryptoGodJohn points out, “as long as we do not see a positive flow on Coinbase, a true bullish reversal is unlikely”.

The rise in the bitcoin price, despite the American regulatory deadlock, highlights an evolution in market behavior. Between the disengagement of retail investors and the retreat of institutional flows, the current trend could signal a transition phase. It remains to be seen if this resilience will hold without a concrete catalyst in the short term.