Bitcoin held steady around $95,000 on Friday as traders absorbed a calmer macro backdrop and a fresh wave of AI enthusiasm lifting Asian equities. Regional stocks pushed higher, hovering near record levels, with chip-linked gains back in focus after strong results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co reignited the AI trade. The mood was further bolstered by a new US-Taiwan trade deal that lowers tariffs on Taiwanese exports and aims to channel more investment into US tech supply chains, a development investors view as supportive for the semiconductor ecosystem.
Overnight on Wall Street, tech and financial shares led gains, underscoring that risk appetite remains robust even as traders dial back expectations for swift Federal Reserve rate cuts. Market snapshot: Bitcoin at $95,496 (down 0.8%), Ether at $3,301 (down 0.4%), XRP at $2.08 (down 1.3%), and total crypto market cap at $3.31 trillion (down 0.3%). While the red numbers might trigger a mini panic in some corners, the overall vibe is more "boringly resilient" than "dumpster fire," suggesting the market has developed a thicker skin to minor dips.
Wenny Cai, co-founder of SynFutures, argued that Bitcoin has fundamentally shed its 2021-era “high-beta” label. Trading firmly between $90,000 and $100,000, BTC now functions as a sophisticated macro hedge against central-bank volatility, she said. This maturation is evident in its stabilizing dominance at 57%–58%, as capital flows into “neutral reserve” assets outside the traditional credit-dependent system. In other words, Bitcoin is finally acting like the digital gold it was promised to be, rather than a hyperactive tech stock on a caffeine buzz.
In Japan, equities eased with the Nikkei slipping 0.42% as the yen steadied, with local politics still on watchlists ahead of an expected snap election call. Currencies remained influential. The dollar hovered near a six-week high after upbeat US data, including lower jobless claims, prompted traders to scale back near-term easing bets. Commodities cooled as well. Oil prices nursed losses, and gold and silver dipped after President Donald Trump signaled a wait-and-see posture on unrest in Iran, leading traders to shave some of the geopolitical premium that had built into recent moves.
