Zcash leads the majors with a 10% surge while Bitcoin chills near $87K 🪙

Zcash led major cryptocurrencies with a roughly 10% gain on Wednesday Asian hours, climbing to just above $1,616 even as Bitcoin held steady near $86,900, according to CoinDesk data. Most large-cap tokens advanced in the same session, with XRP adding 6% to just above $1.62 and HYPE rising 4% to nearly $97. Dogecoin picked up 4%, while ether, BNB and SOL each gained under 1%. TRX was the only major token to fall, down 1%.

The market's upbeat tone was tied by analysts to two Washington developments. The House Financial Services Committee approved the American Reserve Modernization Act on Sept. 17 by a 28-to-21 vote, sending the bill toward a full House vote. Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stepped in where Congress has not: with the CLARITY Act stalled, the regulator used an innovation exemption to clear a path for onchain trading of tokenized U.S. stocks within a day.

"Technically, Bitcoin's back above its 50 & 200 week moving averages, up ~29% in 35 days," Tony Dicarlo, director of institutional propositions at RootstockLabs, said in an email to CoinDesk. "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 American Reserve Modernization Act would place the roughly 325,000 bitcoin the government already holds, most of it seized in criminal and civil forfeitures, into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve at the Treasury. It would require the coins be held for at least 20 years and mandate quarterly audited proof of their existence, while also ordering a study of ways to expand the reserve. Bonds rallied as oil prices extended their decline through the session, easing inflation worries, while the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan's divided rate increase signaled a gradual path toward tighter monetary policy.