Bitcoin and ethereum prices rise Friday, September 18, 2026, as markets move past the CLARITY Act's Senate defeat
The Fed raised rates for the first time in three years, and the reaction in crypto was not what a policy tightening typically produces. Bitcoin ($BTC) opened at $76,350.68 on September 18, 2026, up 0.3% from Thursday, and climbed…
Key takeaways
- Bitcoin opened at $76,350.68 on September 18, 2026, up 0.3% from Thursday, and rose to $77,991.09 by 7:25 a.m. ET, while ethereum opened at $2,445.49, up 1.2% overnight, and reached $2,501.16.
- The CLARITY Act, a Senate bill meant to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto, failed in the Senate this week.
- The Fed raised interest rates for the first time in three years, which alongside progress on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline restoration eased inflation concerns.
- Bitcoin is up 18.4% month-over-month but down 34.4% year-over-year, while ethereum is up 27.9% month-over-month but down 46.7% year-over-year.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called the CLARITY Act likely 'dead' and pointed to the SEC and CFTC as the next regulatory avenue.
The Fed raised rates for the first time in three years, and the reaction in crypto was not what a policy tightening typically produces. Bitcoin ($BTC) opened at $76,350.68 on September 18, 2026, up 0.3% from Thursday, and climbed to $77,991.09 by 7:25 a.m. ET. Ethereum ($ETH) opened at $2,445.49, a 1.2% overnight gain, and reached $2,501.16 in the same window.
The rate move arrived alongside progress on Saudi Arabia's key East-West pipeline restoration. Together, those two developments eased inflation concerns and gave the sector room to shake off a significant legislative loss: the CLARITY Act, the Senate bill intended to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto, failed in the chamber this week.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong addressed the defeat in an interview with the Daily Wolf, a Yahoo Finance partner. "We let politics get in the way, I guess," he said of the bill, adding that he would "at this point assume it's dead." A regulatory path still exists, Armstrong said, pointing to the SEC and the CFTC as the next avenue.
Against that backdrop, the month-over-month numbers are striking. Bitcoin is up 18.4% from a month ago; ethereum is up 27.9%. Year-over-year, the picture shifts sharply: bitcoin is down 34.4% from this date in 2025, and ethereum is down 46.7%. Both tokens set records last year, bitcoin at $126,198.07 on October 6, 2025 and ethereum at $4,953.73 on August 24, 2025.
The capital environment has been shifting in parallel on the mortgage side. President Trump has said he wants the United States to be "the crypto capital of the world," and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William J. Pulte ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in late June to prepare to count cryptocurrency as an asset for mortgage qualification. Better and Coinbase have since issued what they describe as the first Fannie Mae-backed crypto mortgage, to a couple in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
A Fed now moving rates higher for the first time in three years is the macro caveat that sits over all of it. Both assets remain well below the highs they printed last autumn.
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