Bitcoin surpassed $70,000 for the first time in over two months, propelled by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s successful move to push US bond yields lower and a high-stakes meeting President Donald Trump held with crypto industry leaders.
Bitcoin rose about 4.1% to over $71,900, its highest level since May 31. A token associated with offshore exchange Hyperliquid climbed 23% in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data, after Trump indicated the US is looking at options for allowing the derivatives platform to operate in the country.
The crypto market rose along with risk assets following US plans to buy back longer-dated treasuries, which initially sent yields tumbling and the dollar to a three-month low.
“When yields drop and the dollar weakens, risk assets tend to rally, and we’ve already seen Bitcoin move higher on the news,” said Jeff Mei, chief operating officer at BTSE.
Rajiv Sawhney, head of international portfolio management at Wave Digital Assets, said yield-curve control “was the second-biggest market catalyst on our bucket list that could potentially supercharge a durable Bitcoin rally.” The biggest catalyst would be a government mandate to buy Bitcoin for a national reserve, he said.
Thursday’s move builds on Bitcoin’s 7% surge on Wednesday that wiped out $1 billion in short positions on the token within in an hour. In the past 24 hours, more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency short positions have been liquidated, according to CoinGlass data.
Other digital assets were also up on Thursday. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, rose as much as 5.3%, while Solana climbed about 5% and XRP was up by more than 5.5%.
Sentiment Turns Positive
Positive sentiment returned to the crypto market Wednesday after Trump met with crypto executives from firms including Coinbase Global Inc., Payward Inc. and Blockchain.com Group Holdings Inc. The move helped revive optimism around the Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill that failed to make it to a vote before the Senate’s August recess.
The legislation has stalled over a fight regarding ethics provisions. Trump urged the Senate to pass the bill, and the chamber is expected to take it up again when it returns in mid-September.
Large Bitcoin holders and institutional buyers have also returned to the market this week. Bitcoin whales have added roughly $2.75 billion worth of the token in 60 days, while US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw large inflows from Monday to Wednesday. The 13 ETFs have gained over $1 billion so far this week, compared with $389.7 million in outflows last week.
“The latest data on US crypto spot ETF inflows acts as further proof of how institutional demand for cryptoassets is steadily growing,” said Vladimir Tikhomirov, co-founder of decentralized-finance firm Algebra.
Crypto traders have for months been searching for a bottom in a bear market that started in October, when Bitcoin peaked above $126,000 before a sharp selloff that has continued through this year.
The latest rally revived options activity, with Deribit data showing $1.5 billion in Bitcoin calls — contracts that pay out if the asset rises above a set price — at $70,000. There were $1.4 billion in puts at $60,000, which pay out if Bitcoin falls below that level. The near-even balance between the two suggests traders are positioning for volatility.
