Bitcoin prices rose to their highest since May on August 21.
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Bitcoin prices continued to rally on Friday, August 21, nearing the $80,000 level and reaching their loftiest valuation since May.
The world’s most well-known digital currency climbed to $79,500, according to Coinbase data from TradingView. At this point, it was up close to 9% from its intraday low of approximately $73,000 and 24% from Wednesday’s low of $64,100.
The cryptocurrency has been following a strong, upward trend since Wednesday, after the U.S. Treasury announced that it would increase its buyback operations for long-term bonds in order to support liquidity.
Analysts have cited varying factors for the continued gains, most recently emphasizing strong inflows into bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds and the liquidation of short positions that resulted from continued upside.
“Honestly, at this point it’s feeding on itself,” William Stern, founder of Cardiff, said about the ongoing rally. “The buyback and the Clarity Act got it moving, but now every leg up is wiping out more shorts, and those liquidations are what’s pushing it into the $79,000s,” he stated via email.
Terence McMenamin, CEO and cofounder of innovative lending firm Techdollar, also weighed in, claiming through emailed commentary that “Bitcoin climbing to roughly $79,500 isn’t really a crypto story, it’s a liquidity story.”
“Bitcoin is up more than 20% this week, spot ETFs have pulled in roughly $1.6 billion, and billions of dollars of short positions have been forced out of the market. That tells you this isn’t just retail speculation coming back,” he added.
“The bigger catalyst is the shift in the macro backdrop. The Treasury’s decision to increase long-duration bond buybacks has eased some pressure in the bond market and weakened the dollar, while growing regulatory clarity is giving institutional investors another reason to put capital to work,” McMenamin continued.
“Bitcoin is benefiting from both sides of that equation: more liquidity and less perceived regulatory risk.”
Brian Huang, cofounder of fintech firm Glider, offered his two cents on the situation, choosing to focus on the ongoing impact of this week’s Treasury announcement.
“The market is still digesting the treasury buybacks announced two days ago,” he stated through emailed input. “When the US government buys long-dated treasuries to artificially dampen rates, it pushes investors towards assets like BTC and gold.”
“Keep in mind that the treasury auctions over $200bn in 30-year bonds each year,” Huang emphasized. “Compared to BTC’s $1.6tn market cap and thinner liquidity, a trickle in the bond market is enough to rip BTC higher.”
Thomas Perfumo, global economist for Kraken, also offered his perspective, emphasizing that while the U.S. Treasury announcement represented the original catalyst for bitcoin’s current rally, he has been focusing on ETF inflows “to see if we have follow-through.”
He noted that “Over the last couple of days, we’ve seen Bitcoin ETFs post net inflows that make the top-10 best days for net flows in 2026.”