Bitcoin Tops $81,000 for the First Time Since May as Treasury Buybacks Revive the Debasement Trade

Bitcoin’s climb past $81,000 is being driven by the Treasury’s bond buyback plan and a weaker dollar, not by anything happening inside crypto.

Bitcoin price action.

Posted August 25, 2026 at 6:03 am EST.

Bitcoin rose above $81,000 on Tuesday for the first time since mid-May, extending a rally that has pushed the token up roughly 28% in August. That would be bitcoin’s biggest monthly gain since November 2024. It touched $81,272 in Asian hours before easing to most recently trade at $80,680.

The move traces to the bond market rather than to anything inside crypto. The Treasury said on Aug. 19 that it would double its long-end debt buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation starting Sept. 9, an effort to cap yields at the long end of the curve that instead pushed the pressure onto the dollar. Gold rose to its own three-month high on the same trade.

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Fund flows turned with it: the 13 US spot bitcoin ETFs took in a net $1.92 billion last week, their strongest week since early October, including $606.3 million on Aug. 20.

Policy has been a secondary tailwind. President Donald Trump urged the Senate last week to pass the Clarity Act, a market structure bill that missed a vote before the August recess and is expected to return in mid-September.

Bitcoin bulls should anticipate some more volatility as Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to speak at Jackson Hole on Wednesday, his first appearance there since taking the job.

AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.