Bitcoin (BTC) surged more than 23 percent over the past week, rising to around $77,000.

Cointelegraph, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Aug. 23 local time that bitcoin briefly rose above $79,000 during the week and broke above its 200-day moving average for the first time since November 2025.

The rebound was not limited to bitcoin. Ethereum (ETH) rose 31.1 percent over the same period to $2,456, while XRP jumped 53.3 percent to $1.52. Solana (SOL) also rose 28 percent. Total crypto market capitalisation was tallied at $2.63 trillion. Listed crypto-related stocks also rose, with shares of Canaan, Metaplanet, Coinbase and Robinhood posting double-digit gains.

U.S. debt issues were cited first as a backdrop to the market rebound. U.S. national debt exceeded $40 trillion this week. An interpretation emerged that the surge in gold and cryptocurrencies reflected inflation, a widening fiscal deficit and U.S. Treasury policy acting together. The Kobeissi Letter viewed the U.S. government's large deficit spending and the Treasury's plan to expand some purchases of government bonds as having spurred gains in the two asset classes.

Ray Dalio warned that U.S. debt issues could have a direct impact on investor portfolios. Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, mentioned a strategy of keeping gold at about 15 percent and adding some bitcoin on top of that. He said a debt crisis could arrive in about 3 years if the United States does not change its current course, saying, "I think it will come within about 3 years."

Fund flows also supported the rebound. A combined $2.61 billion flowed into spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for bitcoin and ethereum last week. The average cost basis of Strategy's bitcoin investment, led by Michael Saylor, also rose above $75,385, recovering its break-even level. On Polymarket, the probability that bitcoin reaches $90,000 before 2027 was reflected at 48 percent.

The regulatory environment also influenced market sentiment. U.S. President Donald Trump renewed calls for passage of the Clarity bill after meeting industry figures including Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong and Gemini co-founders Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss. Trump said Congress should pass a "fair version" of the bill so the United States does not fall behind China. Senator Ruben Gallego, however, voiced opposition, saying, "The president cannot set the level of fairness himself."

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also introduced a new cryptocurrency regulatory proposal. The proposal, which entered a 60-day public comment period, includes an exemption allowing token issuance of up to $5 million over 4 years, or up to $75 million over 12 months if stricter disclosure and structural requirements are met. It also includes a safe-harbour proposal that would not view cryptocurrencies as investment contracts. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce said existing regulations did not fit cryptocurrencies and assessed the new guidelines as an important step toward establishing "clear, reasonable and enforceable rules."

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also said it could move to independent regulation if legislation is delayed. Chairman Michael Selig said that if the Senate fails to pass the Clarity bill, it would move quickly to start a new proposal for rules for the industry. He said it is reviewing allowing both registered and unregistered businesses to offer leverage- or margin-based cryptocurrency trading, and is also looking at measures to protect developers.

Views on the price outlook are mixed. Standard Chartered's head of digital asset research Geoff Kendrick saw bitcoin potentially moving toward its all-time high of $126,000 by the end of the year. He judged that while the recent rally was driven heavily by short liquidations, spot ETF inflows are also recovering and open interest is low, leaving room for additional money to come in. He said, "There is a risk that the $100,000 forecast for the end of this year is too low."

By contrast, Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, put more weight on the possibility that bitcoin will move around current levels through year-end. She saw interest rates and macroeconomic conditions remaining key variables, and said the year could end at levels $10,000 to $20,000 higher or lower than the current price depending on conditions.

Project-specific risks also continued. Mantra's native token fell to a record low of $0.004126 just before the network nearly stopped producing blocks due to an incident of unknown cause. Mantra Chain was temporarily halted as a precaution, and the project said at the time, "We cannot yet share the root cause and timeline." It later fixed a Cosmos-EVM module vulnerability on Aug. 22, said the network was restarted and explained there was no damage to user funds.