Bitcoin edged higher on Friday but stayed rangebound near $85,000 as surging Treasury yields capped gains. Crypto exchange Bitget confirmed a $352 million security breach with possible ties to a North Korean hacking group, while broader altcoins pushed higher for the week.
Bitcoin climbed 1.9% to $84,783.6 on Friday. It was trading up 3.4% for the week. Broader crypto prices moved sideways but also nursed weekly gains, helped by cheer over favorable U.S. regulations that sparked an extended rally in the sector.
Bitget targeted in $352 million hack
Crypto exchange Bitget said late Thursday it suffered a security breach that affected about $351.6 million in digital assets. The exchange immediately suspended withdrawals but allowed deposits and trading to continue.
CEO Gracy Chen said investigators found some ties from the breach to a North Korean hacking group, though the perpetrators were not immediately clear. Bitget detected unauthorized transfers from some wallets on Thursday afternoon, with affected assets including ether, XRP, USDT, and USDC across both hot and cold wallets.
The hack is the biggest crypto breach by valuation in 2026. Bitget said the losses were fully covered by its user protection fund of over $464 million.
Soaring yields curb Bitcoin gains
Bitcoin started the week on strong footing, but sharply curbed gains after a surge in government bond yields. U.S. 10-year Treasuries surged to levels last seen in 2007 this week, ramping up concerns over rising interest rates and tightening liquidity conditions. Bond yields across the globe rose in response.
The spike in yields followed a series of hawkish warnings from Federal Reserve officials, who said sticky inflation was likely to invite more rate hikes by the Fed after last week's 25 basis point raise. Higher rates bode poorly for crypto, since they diminish the appeal of investing in volatile, speculative assets with no set yield.
Altcoins drift higher
Broader crypto prices fared slightly better than Bitcoin on Friday and traded up for the week. Ether rose 2.7% to $2,712.36. XRP jumped over 7%.
Solana advanced 5%. Cardano surged 8.4%, and BNB rose 1.6%. Among memecoins, Dogecoin climbed about 5%.
Source: Investing.com
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