Bitcoin broke out of a six-week trading range and rose above $72,000, with Jan3 CEO Samson Mow reiterating its role as a safe haven. He linked the recent surge to capital shifting amid macroeconomic uncertainty, including U.S. Treasury moves to expand long-dated bond buybacks. Institutional inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs also stood out, with $517.2 million of net inflows on Aug. 19, led by BlackRock’s IBIT.

Five years after El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender, the expected benefits such as greater financial inclusion and lower remittance costs appear limited. Studies found usage concentrated among young, urban, educated men and existing bank users, while the government’s Chivo wallet did not significantly improve access for the unbanked. Bitcoin’s remittance share fell, and policy later retreated as the country agreed to IMF support and revised its bitcoin law.