Spot bitcoin ETFs drew US$1.92 billion in net inflows last week, their strongest haul since October
Bitcoin traded above US$80,000 on Tuesday for the first time since May 15, extending a rally that lifted the token roughly 23 percent over the preceding seven days and pulled it out of a slump running since last October.
CNBC reported the cryptocurrency was last higher by less than 1 percent at US$79,287.12 after touching US$81,240.68 earlier in the session.
Bloomberg put the Asian-session high at US$80,908, a gain of as much as 2.5 percent, and the Wall Street Journal, citing LSEG, had it 1.7 percent higher at about US$80,280.
The token sits well below the peak near US$126,000 it reached in October, according to Bloomberg.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement last week that Washington would at least double its purchases of long-dated government debt sits behind the move, the Financial Times reported, with the plan nudging 30-year yields lower while weakening the US dollar.
The greenback fell around 1 percent against a basket of currencies in the days following, per the FT.
"The dollar debasement narrative is back after the Treasury's latest buyback announcement," Glassnode Research analysts said in comments carried by the Wall Street Journal.
Lacie Zhang, a research analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Bloomberg the plan helped "weaken the dollar and revive the 'debasement trade' across Bitcoin and gold."
US spot bitcoin ETFs drew net inflows of US$1.92bn last week, their strongest weekly haul since early October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg data also show the 13 US-listed funds recorded their biggest single day in more than three months on August 20, at US$606.3m.
More than US$500m came in on August 21, the Wall Street Journal reported.
About US$7.2bn in leveraged bearish bets across all cryptoassets were liquidated last week, Coinglass data cited by Bloomberg show.
CNBC put the figure above US$4bn, while Bitfinex analysts told the Wall Street Journal that roughly US$3bn of short positions closed over two days.
US President Donald Trump met crypto executives and the heads of US regulatory agencies last week and urged the Senate to pass the Clarity Act, a market structure bill that stalled before the August recess and is expected to return in mid-September, Bloomberg reported.
Democrats have pushed for ethics provisions barring government officials from profiting from the industry, according to the Financial Times, and the SEC released its own crypto regulation proposals the same week.
Vladimir Tikhomirov, co-founder of Algebra Finance, told the Wall Street Journal the meeting signalled continued administration support for a lighter regulatory approach.
Fundstrat said in a Monday note reported by CNBC that buying which followed the squeeze suggests the move may be "more durable than a tactical bounce," pointing to ETF inflows, heavier trading, and stablecoin creation.
Fundstrat also said options positioning shows investors paying for exposure to gains further into the future rather than short-term upside.
Bitcoin also rallied without fresh buying from Strategy, the largest corporate holder, which has not added to its position in two weeks, per the firm.
BTIG noted that a comparable surge in January 2023 faded before the token found support near its 200-day moving average, CNBC reported.
Ether traded around US$2,490 and XRP rose 2.2 percent to US$1.51, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Canadian ownership of crypto assets reached 25 percent, up from 10 percent in 2023, an Ontario Securities Commission survey published in July found, and 39 percent of investors who work with an advisor said their advisor had recommended at least a small portfolio allocation, nearly double the 19 percent recorded in 2023.
Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at BMO Global Asset Management, told Wealth Professional last December that bitcoin price action offers a read on "where the appetite is, where the sentiment on markets is," rather than on the underlying economy.
Nicholas Mersch, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments, said in the same article that the token now sits in a "high beta sort of liquidity sensitive bucket" alongside long-duration technology names.
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, told the Financial Times it is "hard not to be extremely bullish" on bitcoin and crypto.
Analysts cited by Bloomberg have flagged the short squeeze as the main driver of the move, suggesting demand may not hold.
"The current optimism could bleed out just as quickly as it appeared," Tikhomirov told the Wall Street Journal.
