After a tremendous rally, Bitcoin is set to end the week 14% higher.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was on course to conclude the week 13.8% higher on Friday, in sharp contrast to global equities markets, which were pressured by worries over the future of the Federal Reserve's rate rises.

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Thursday saw the biggest cryptocurrency by market value surpass the $25,000 threshold and reach a multi-month high as a result of its midweek climb. According to statistics released by Coinglass on Wednesday, a portion of the increase is attributable to a so-called "short squeeze" that has come from an abnormally high number of short liquidations.

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In a rare occurrence, this week's increase in cryptocurrency prices has deviated from the general price movement of U.S. stocks. With hotter-than-anticipated consumer price index and producer price index results, crypto traders looked to have a voracious appetite for risk and appeared unconcerned about more Fed rate rises.

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"Bitcoin is in retreat at the conclusion of the week, seemingly not immune to the abrupt shift in market risk appetite. This follows a massive rise earlier in the week that resulted in an eight-month high on Thursday, "said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.

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"But, bitcoin bulls will undoubtedly be encouraged by recent price advances and may feel more bullish than they have since 2021," Erlam continued.

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Friday's gain was dulled by the news that Binance (BNB-USD) (BUSD-USD) was considering severing connections with some U.S. business affiliates, which dragged on cryptocurrencies.

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"Many crypto traders are keeping a close eye on the rumor that Binance may end its partnerships with U.S. corporations as pressure from regulators rises," said Edward Moya, an analyst at OANDA.

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"Binance is the world's largest exchange, and if it abandons critical American partnerships, the crypto-verse will suffer a huge blow," Moya warned.

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The news concerning Binance was released one day after the Wall Street Journal revealed that the exchange anticipated paying fines to satisfy U.S. regulatory and law enforcement probes into its company.

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In a larger context, Bitcoin's (BTC-USD) weekly rally boosted the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, which now stands at $1.12 trillion, up 3.3% from Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap.

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The weekly rally in cryptocurrencies came despite continued regulatory crackdowns from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Some of its actions this week include:

• On Friday, the SEC announced that it had filed charges against Paul Pierce, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, for making false representations concerning tokens offered by EthereumMax.
• Thursday, the SEC filed charges against Terraform Laboratories PTE and Do Hyeong Kwon for allegedly perpetrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities scam.
• On Monday, Trade Algo reported that the SEC drafted a proposal that may make it difficult for hedge funds, private equity firms, and pension funds to interact with cryptocurrency-related companies.
• Also on Monday, Trae Algo reported that the SEC might file charges against stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust for allegedly violating investor protection rules. The New York Department of Financial Services also ordered Paxos to halt its arrangement and cease issuing additional dollar-pegged BUSD (BUSD-USD) tokens.
• The SEC's moves following last week's raid on Kraken cryptocurrency exchange.

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Countries Act on Crypto

• According to a report published on Friday, the Bank of Russia will launch a pilot program for the country's central bank digital currency at the beginning of April. The Bank of Japan has announced that it would begin a pilot program in April to test its digital yen.
• Thursday, CoinDesk revealed that Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges would be subject to enhanced regulatory scrutiny.
• Wednesday, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, announced that its technological ecosystem, Hub71 Digital Assets, has committed more than $2 billion to support web3 businesses and blockchain technologies.
• On Tuesday, the U.K.'s banking regulator said it would take enforcement action against operators of unregistered bitcoin ATMs.

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Bitcoin Price

At 1841 UTC, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was up 3.5% to $24.63K, and ether (ETH-USD) was up 3.2% to $1.75K.

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Monday, SA blogger Kevin George cautioned investors that the January rise in bitcoin (BTC-USD) was technical and that nothing fundamental had changed in the world's largest cryptocurrency.

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Friday's performance of the following crypto-related stocks: Coinbase (COIN) decreased 0.6%, Marathon Digital (MARA) increased 6.8%, MicroStrategy (MSTR) increased 3.5%, Riot Platforms (RIOT) increased 3.6%, Bakkt Holdings (BKKT) increased 0.6%, and Hut 8 Mining (HUT) increased 1.5%.

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