Bitcoin, Ether Gain More Than 1.5% as AI Stock Rout Deepens

Bitcoin and Ether rose and outperformed broader risk assets even as global technology stocks tumbled on calls to slow the pace of artificial intelligence development.

As of September 14, Bitcoin was trading around $77,900 on Binance's USDT market, up more than 1.53% over the past 24 hours. Ether also gained 1.53% to around $2,500.

By contrast, selling spread across global equity markets, with AI-related shares leading the decline. Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei argued that cutting-edge AI development should slow because of safety concerns, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk also backed a more cautious approach.

Worries that slower AI development could reduce orders for advanced semiconductors and delay the expansion of computing infrastructure weighed on investor sentiment. In premarket U.S. trading, CoreWeave and Cipher Mining each fell 6%, while Mara Holdings dropped 5% and IREN lost 4%.

Crypto's gains, despite the broad weakness in technology stocks, appeared to be driven by expectations for progress on the U.S. CLARITY Act.

On prediction market Polymarket, the probability that the CLARITY Act will be enacted by 2026 rose to about 30%. That was more than double the 12% level seen earlier this month.

The bill's core aim is to establish a federal regulatory framework for the U.S. digital-asset market. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to hold a procedural vote on September 15 to begin consideration of the legislation.

The divergence is notable because crypto advanced even as high oil prices and the possibility of higher U.S. interest rates pressured risk assets more broadly. Market participants are watching this week's Senate vote on the CLARITY Act as a key factor in whether crypto can maintain its relative strength.