Bitcoin Tops $81,000 as ETF Demand Rebounds and Dollar Weakens

Bitcoin briefly climbed above $81,000 on August 25, extending its August rebound as renewed demand for the cryptocurrency coincided with strong inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and a weaker dollar.

The move also comes as new U.S. sanctions on Iran, expanded Treasury bond buybacks and concerns over currency debasement reshape the broader market backdrop. Short covering has added to the advance, but sustained spot and ETF demand suggest the rally is not being driven by derivatives positioning alone.

Bitcoin continued to move higher this week as investors responded to a combination of U.S. policy developments, renewed spot-market demand, ETF inflows and short covering.

The United States has expanded its secondary sanctions on Iran, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signaled a broader effort to target Iran’s financial networks, including the digital-asset sector.

At the same time, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted more than $337.5 million on Monday, extending a recent streak of positive flows, according to SoSoValue data. Over the past 24 hours, more than $651.7 million in short positions were also liquidated, including $335.28 million in Bitcoin shorts, according to CoinGlass.

The latest ETF data follows five consecutive days of net inflows from August 17 through August 21, totaling about $1.92 billion. The August 20 session alone saw $606.3 million in inflows, including approximately $503 million into BlackRock’s IBIT.

The U.S. Treasury announced on August 19 that it would at least double the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated Treasury securities, from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation beginning September 9.

The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, has kept its interest rate unchanged at 3.50%–3.75%, signaling that the latest rally was driven less by expectations of a rate cut and more by shifts in the Treasury market.

An expanded Treasury buyback program has helped push longer-term yields lower, putting pressure on the dollar and adding momentum to what investors often call the “debasement trade” — a dynamic that has also fueled gains in gold.

Bitcoin’s move above $80,000 coincided with a weaker U.S. dollar and renewed concerns about currency debasement, as U.S. government debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, nearly doubling in less than a decade.

The next major market-moving events are coming in late August and September. 

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday, August 28.

The U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI is due September 1, followed by the monthly jobs report on September 4. Investors will also be watching a Senate procedural vote on the CLARITY Act, scheduled for September 15.

Bitcoin’s move above $80,000 is showing signs of support from spot-market demand, rather than derivatives activity alone. At the same time, Treasury policy and a weaker dollar are providing a broader macro backdrop that could benefit scarce assets.

Whether the move develops into a sustained trend will likely depend in part on whether Bitcoin exchange-traded funds continue to attract steady inflows.

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