Bitcoin and ethereum prices rose in trading on Friday, September 18, 2026, even as the CLARITY Act — a bill meant to set clearer US rules for crypto markets — failed to advance. Rather than selling off on the regulatory setback, traders appeared to rotate attention toward altcoins, with XRP nearing what chart watchers call a golden cross, a signal some traders read as a sign of building upward momentum.
The muted reaction to the bill's failure suggests the market had already priced in the possibility that CLARITY would stall, or that traders now see altcoin-specific catalysts as more important to near-term price action than the fate of a single piece of legislation in Washington.
What isn't yet clear is whether this rotation into altcoins persists once the immediate reaction to the CLARITY Act news fades, or whether bitcoin and ethereum reclaim the market's attention if the golden cross fails to materialize in XRP's chart.