Bitcoin holds near $66,300 as chips extend their rally and the yen hits a 40-year low

Markets Bitcoin holds near $66,300 as chips extend their rally and the yen hits a 40-year low Semiconductor stocks led a second day of gains on AI optimism, while the yen slid past 163 per dollar for the first time since 1986. By Shaurya Malwa Jul 22, 2026, 5:03 a.m. 2 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Bitcoin holds near $66,300 as the yen hits a 40-year low. (Shutterstock) Summary Show Bitcoin hovered near $66,300, holding a two-week high as trading volumes stayed robust and price moves in major tokens remained relatively muted. The latest leg higher in bitcoin appears tied more to a powerful global semiconductor rally, led by gains in U.S. and Asian chip stocks, than to any crypto-specific catalyst. A sharp slide in the Japanese yen to its weakest level since 1986 underscores mounting currency stress that bolsters the long-run case for bitcoin as a fixed-supply asset, even if it is not yet driving short-term flows. Bitcoin held near $66,300 on Wednesday, consolidating a two-week high, as the semiconductor rally that has driven crypto all month extended into a second session and the Japanese yen sank to its weakest level in four decades. The largest cryptocurrency was up nearly 1% on the day and 3% on the week, with about $31 billion changing hands and a 24-hour range of roughly $65,400 to $66,900. Ether traded near $1,935, up 3% on the week. XRP added 2% to $1.14 and TRON edged up, while the day's laggard was hyperliquid's HYPE, down 4% to $60 and off 10% over seven sessions. Bitcoin's dominance and the majors' muted daily moves point to a market drifting higher on macro rather than any crypto-native catalyst. The engine is still the chip trade. MSCI's Asia Pacific equities gauge rose 1%, extending Tuesday's biggest one-day gain in a month, with South Korea's Kospi jumping 5% as a leveraged-position unwind that had pulled the benchmark nearly 30% off its peak appeared to be ending. Samsung and SK Hynix led, following a more than 5% jump in a U.S. semiconductor gauge on Tuesday that clawed the index back out of a technical bear-market territory. The Chinese AI shock that hit these same stocks less than a week ago - including bitcoin - has fully reversed. A fresher development is in currencies, as the yen slid past 163 per dollar for the first time since 1986, extending a decline that Japanese intervention has failed to halt. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said authorities remain ready to take "bold steps" as needed, per Bloomberg, but the combination of a strengthening dollar, higher U.S. Treasury yields and oil rising on the Iran conflict has overwhelmed those efforts. That backdrop is the one bitcoin's holders have long argued plays in their favor. A major currency losing a tenth of its value against the dollar, with its central bank unable to stop the slide despite tens of billions spent, is the exact scenario a debasement case for bitcoin points to. Whether that thesis is driving any real flows is unclear, and bitcoin is tracking chip stocks far more closely than it is tracking the yen in recent months, but the currency stress is the sort of macro pressure that has historically firmed the argument for holding a fixed-supply asset. Latest Crypto News 1 AI models escaped OpenAI’s sandbox and hit Hugging Face. Crypto is where that gets dangerous 1 hour ago 2 Crypto lobby group Digital Chamber sues Illinois to block digital asset tax 9 hours ago 3 Crypto Clarity Act still at mercy of ethics section as Democrats balk at Trump deal 10 hours ago 4 Bitcoin rally faces key test at $68,000 as 'summer slumber' grips crypto, analysts say 11 hours ago 5 White House pushes Senate Democrats to take 'historic' crypto Clarity Act ethics deal 13 hours ago 6 Movement Labs files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy months after token scandal 14 hours ago 7 Claude's Fable 5 just solved an 87-year-old math problem, and it matters for bitcoin 15 hours ago 8 Galaxy sets up $5 million fund to help shield Bitcoin against quantum computing threats 15 hours ago 9 Russia’s parliament passes crypto market law with $3,800 annual cap for retail investors 16 hours ago 10 Augustus raises $180 million to build a clearing bank for the AI and stablecoin era 17 hours ago Latest Research TRON Network - Q2 2026 TRON Network - Q2 2026 In Q2; TRON's stablecoin dominance rose to 28.7%, USDT supply on TRON hit $89B ATH, $89M in protocol fees (2nd to Hyperliquid), TRX +3%, and deepening institutional & agentic reach. By CoinDesk Research 19 hours ago Commissioned by Tron In Q2; TRON's stablecoin dominance rose to 28.7%, USDT supply on TRON hit $89B ATH, $89M in protocol fees (2nd to Hyperliquid), TRX +3%, and deepening institutional & agentic reach. Why it matters: In Q2; TRON's stablecoin dominance rose to 28.7%, USDT supply on TRON hit $89B ATH, $89M in protocol fees (