Investors were keeping an eye on the US debt ceiling talks as Bitcoin held steady at $26,500. Though it is still unclear whether they will be able to strike a deal with the Biden Administration, House Democrats indicated progress in the negotiations. By market cap, the biggest cryptocurrency recently gained around 0.5%. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, Ether, was equally range-bound, with trades occurring slightly around $1,800 and a gain of about 0.4%. Other significant cryptocurrencies were mixed after marginally increasing early in the day. A gauge of the health of the cryptocurrency markets, the CoinDesk Market Index, increased by 0.4%.