Zcash leads major gains as bitcoin holds near $87,000

CoinDesk reports that Zcash led major cryptocurrencies with a 10% gain, rising to just above $1,616 during Wednesday Asian morning hours. Bitcoin traded near $86,900, gaining 1% over 24 hours, while XRP added 6% to just above $1.62 and HYPE rose 4% to nearly $97.

On Sept. 17, the House Financial Services Committee voted 28-21 in favor of the American Reserve Modernization Act. The legislation proposes establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to hold the government’s approximately 325,000 bitcoin. The proposal mandates a holding period of at least 20 years, verified through quarterly audits.

Tony Dicarlo, director of institutional propositions at RootstockLabs, attributed the market tone to legislative and regulatory support. “Technically, Bitcoin's back above its 50 & 200 week moving averages, up ~29% in 35 days,” he said. “Legislatively, The SEC stepped up support of digital assets where Congress hasn't with the Innovation Exemption filling the CLARITY gap within 24 hours, driving sharp rallies in tokenization related digital assets and improving broader confidence.”

The SEC granted an exemption allowing the on-chain trading of tokenized U.S. equities. Meanwhile, Brent crude fell less than 1% to approximately $99 a barrel, extending its losing streak to six sessions.