Bitcoin Surges $66K as Cryptos Rally; Solana Leads Altcoins

Bitcoin (BTC) surged to its highest price in nearly a month hitting $66,700 as the crypto market rallied on Friday. Have decentralized blockchains shown their resilience once again? This surge came amid a major global IT outage caused by a malfunctioning software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. It disrupted airlines. Banks and businesses worldwide were affected.

BTC rose above $66,000 during early U.S. trading hours. It peaked at $66,700 in the afternoon. This 4% increase over the past 24 hours was accompanied by significant trading volumes for BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT). BTC trades at around $66,500.

Solana (SOL) led the altcoin majors. It jumped 8.5% to surpass $170 for the first time since early June. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) a broad-based digital asset benchmark, rose 4.3%.

Why did cryptocurrencies rally while U.S. equities continued to slide? The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8%. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%. Meanwhile gold dropped over 2% after reaching a fresh all-time high earlier in the week.

Some crypto observers pointed to the resilience of decentralized systems like public blockchains compared to centralized networks. Charles Edwards founder of crypto hedge fund Capriole Investments, noted bitcoin’s rapid surge. This coincided with the U.S. traditional market opening. He suggested institutional investors might view BTC as safe haven.

"Did some institution just wake up and decide Bitcoin is a safe haven decentralized store of value as global tech and banking systems fail from Microsoft's blue screen of death?" - Charles Edwards founder Capriole Investments

Looking ahead could Bitcoin reach $100,000 by year-end? BTC is currently trading in multi-month channel between $56000 and $73,000. Digital asset hedge fund QCP noted strong demand. This was for December $100000 bitcoin call options from institutions.

Mads Eberhart, crypto analyst at Steno Research expects bullish trends for crypto assets. This is expected in the second half of the year. The driving factors include U.S. interest rate cuts, rising liquidity and regulatory clarity in Europe. The potential for more crypto-friendly U.S. leadership also contributes. His targets? Bitcoin at $100000 and Ethereum at $6,500.

In conclusion the recent crypto rally highlights growing institutional interest. It also demonstrates the resilience of decentralized systems. With strong market demand and favorable conditions. Bitcoin’s upward trajectory seems poised to continue.