Bitcoin Stalls Near $64,000 as South Korean Equities Stage Record Rebound

Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies traded flat near $64,300 on Friday, ignoring a historic rebound in global equity and semiconductor markets. South Korea’s Kospi index surged as much as 17 percent, recovering from a severe two-week selloff that had previously dragged the index more than 40 percent below its June peak.

Major digital assets showed little reaction to the broader market optimism. Ether held at $1,907, while Solana and XRP traded at $74 and $1.08 respectively, with approximately $27 billion and $7 billion changing hands in Bitcoin and Ether. Binance Coin was the notable exception, rising 3 percent to $590 to secure the only meaningful weekly gain among top tokens.

The weekly performance for the crypto sector remains soft despite a brief intraday spike to $65,300 during early Asian trading. Bitcoin has lost 2 percent over the past seven sessions, while Solana and XRP are each down 3 percent and Hyperliquid’s HYPE has fallen 5 percent.

Traditional markets moved in the opposite direction, driven by a massive rally in chipmakers. Samsung and SK Hynix both jumped more than 23 percent, and Taiwan Semiconductor rose 10 percent, acting as the primary engines for a broad Asian advance. This followed the largest rally in U.S. chip stocks in over a year, helping the Nasdaq 100 snap a six-day losing streak.

Corporate earnings further dictated equity movements, with Amazon rising nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading on strong cloud revenue. Conversely, Apple shares fell 6 percent as supply chain shortages negatively impacted its sales forecast.

Throughout July, Bitcoin had closely tracked semiconductor stocks, rising and falling in tandem with the chip trade. It previously absorbed a $797 billion drop in U.S. megacap technology and Korea’s midweek market crash without breaking support. Its current failure to participate in the subsequent rebound suggests investors are treating digital assets as distinct from the traditional technology sector for the first time in months.

Notably, a significant security breach failed to register on the price tape. Hackers drained approximately 594 bitcoin, valued at roughly $38 million, from around 500 wallets due to a key generation flaw in Coldcard hardware devices.

In broader macroeconomic markets, the Japanese yen weakened after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected by economists. The currency gave back a portion of Thursday’s gain, which had been its largest advance against the dollar in over two years following intervention by Japanese authorities. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasuries rose alongside the dollar, and oil prices extended their recent decline.