Bitcoin breached $123,000, driven by a mix of strong institutional inflows and positive regulatory sentiment during the U.S. "Crypto Week" where several pro-crypto bills are being debated YouTube+8Bloomberg+8CoinDesk+8The Economic Times+7Reuters+7Al Jazeera+7.

A historic $1.18 billion inflow into Bitcoin ETFs this year, alongside a significant short squeeze, helped push BTC to record highs MarketWatch.

Market commentary suggests this rally isn’t just hype: on-chain metrics indicate increasing holder accumulation, and analysts say BTC is outperforming gold YTD—up ~29% vs. gold's 27% Cointelegraph+1The Economic Times+1

XRP, Solana, and Cardano are showing strong momentum amid BTC's strength, fueling altcoin season speculation AP News+15CoinGape+15Indiatimes+15.

XLM (+22%) and HBAR (+27%) led the top 20 altcoin gainers; HBAR’s chart pattern even mirrors patterns from earlier bull cycles CoinDesk.

Low-cap altcoins like USELESS, SPX, and SAROS are closing in on new all-time highs, but come with higher leverage and risk BeInCrypto.