Bitcoin signalled the start of a rally. On the 20th, it rose 6.16 percent from the previous day to $68,610, lifting its market capitalisation share to 58.84 percent. The SEC on the same day proposed rules dubbed “Regulation Cryptoasset” that include exemptions for startup fundraising. That followed a summit at the White House on the 19th where President Donald Trump met chief executives of major firms including Coinbase and Ripple, which was seen as another positive factor. The fallout triggered liquidations of about $2 billion in leveraged positions.

• Bitcoin breaks above $68,000...SEC rules and White House summit seen as twin positives • Bitcoin jumps into the $69,000 range...Trump says “crypto headwinds are over” • Bitcoin hits highest since May on U.S. fiscal worries...tests $80,000 • Bitcoin at $77,700...“highest weekly gain since 2023”

The uptrend quickly carried it to just below $80,000. After Trump said “the headwinds that blew through the crypto industry are over” and urged both a possible review of large-scale bitcoin purchases and passage of the Clarity Act, bitcoin jumped 7.28 percent in 24 hours.

The decisive catalyst came from fiscal policy. After Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced he would double the size of long-term Treasury purchases, or buybacks, to at least $4 billion per operation from $2 billion, bitcoin surged with a short squeeze from $64,400 to $79,491 in three trading days. The market interpreted the move as a response to a swelling fiscal deficit and rising interest costs, not just a reshaping of Treasury maturities, and noted it came shortly after 30-year Treasury yields hit a 19-year high.

• XRP is already a digital commodity...what would change if the U.S. Clarity Act passes • XRP shows a double golden cross on bitcoin chart...eyes on a break above $1.7 • XRP rebounds 15 percent in a day...ending a long bear market? • How far can the XRP rally go...tops gains among major altcoins

XRP, which had fallen to as low as $0.98 last week to its lowest since November 2024, delivered the week’s most dramatic reversal. It jumped 24 percent in a single day on the 20th, the biggest gain among the top 100 coins by market value, and posted weekly gains of 31 to 45 percent. On the 22nd it rebounded 15 percent from the previous day and officially broke a long-term downtrend line that had run since July 2025. Analyst Bird assessed it as “a move that breaks a decline that has continued for more than a year.” XRP also closed above its 50-day exponential moving average for the first time after it had acted as resistance for more than three months, which was cited as further evidence of a technical turn.

The rise was also reflected on charts. A “double golden cross,” where the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average, appeared on both the two-hour and three-hour charts of the XRP-bitcoin pair, and on the daily chart it cleared both the 50-day and 200-day lines that had been resistance since January. The price, which was $1.34 on Saturday, jumped as high as $1.699 before giving back part of the gains, and $2 is discussed as the next target if it breaks convincingly above $1.7. But a downtrend remains in place on a 90-day basis, and some caution that it must hold support at $1.10 to $1.15 before the bear market can be seen as truly over.

• Ripple CEO says “crypto is no longer a fringe industry” • Ripple CEO appears at the heart of the U.S. White House...Trump accelerates pro-coin moves

A crypto summit held at the White House on Aug. 19 became a psychological catalyst for the week’s rally. After attending the event, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse (브래드 갈링하우스) declared, “Crypto is no longer a fringe industry.” He cited survey results showing 67 million people in the United States hold crypto, about 1 in 4 adults, and that 90 percent of them have annual income below $500,000. He also stressed that the share of women among new entrants rose to 42 percent from 34 percent, showing a clear trend toward broader adoption. But Garlinghouse did not give a separate speech on the day and the administration’s references to Ripple were limited, so the XRP price did not react immediately.

Instead, the market focused on comments from the heads of regulatory agencies. CFTC Commissioner Michael Selig said, “The era of political law enforcement, debanking and enforcement-focused regulation is over.” SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins said new cryptoasset rules are aimed at bringing the industry into the regulated mainstream. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pointed to a Senate vote on Sept. 15 as a key inflection point. The meeting was assessed as an event that moved markets through “atmosphere” rather than individual announcements, as it served to jointly confirm a pro-industry stance by the government, regulators and the industry rather than support for specific companies.

• How long will the crypto rally last? Dogecoin community warns of a “bull trap” • Bitget CEO sees bitcoin swinging $10,000 to $20,000 into year-end...U.S. government buying difficult • Ray Dalio says bitcoin will be relatively strong as government debt grows

Even during the surge, warning voices did not abate. With three straight days of gains, $1.24 billion in short positions were liquidated in 24 hours and dogecoin rebounded from a low of $0.069 to $0.0857, stoking signs of overheating across the market.

Price outlooks also diverged sharply. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen (그레이시 첸) said on a podcast that “interest rates and macroeconomic uncertainty” were variables into year-end and that bitcoin could swing within a $10,000 to $20,000 range by year-end. She also drew a line on additional U.S. government purchases, noting that it would require congressional legislation and was unlikely to be realised within 2 years, even though it holds about 328,372 BTC.

By contrast, Ray Dalio focused on the macro environment rather than bitcoin’s own surge and assessed that “in an environment where government debt is increasing, it can show relatively better performance than other assets.” He said he would keep gold at 10 to 15 percent of a portfolio and, citing domestic political and geopolitical conflict, said he preferred holding gold and bitcoin together. He warned that if the current path persists, a U.S. debt crisis could occur in about 3 years, plus or minus 2 years. Differences in interpretation over whether the rally marks the start of a debt-driven liquidity market or a temporary rebound are expected to shape the next phase.

• Upbit volume jumps 273 percent...XRP leads rebound in South Korea’s crypto market • Ripple RLUSD market cap tops $2 billion...gap with PayPal USD narrows to below $1 billion

The domestic market also reacted quickly to the rally. Upbit’s 24-hour trading volume jumped 273 percent to about $1.84 billion, the highest since mid-March, and XRP turnover hit $418.9 million, topping bitcoin, tether and ethereum to rank first. At Bithumb, XRP turnover rose 132.9 percent to $934.9 million, also ranking first. Min Jung (민 정), an analyst at Presto Research, described domestic investors as “return-chasers who mainly buy assets that are already rising.” That is interpreted as a reversal of a trend in the first half when won-denominated turnover fell 54.6 percent year on year and funds shifted to the KOSPI, which hit a record high.

In the stablecoin market, Ripple-issued RLUSD showed notable growth. Its market capitalisation rose above $2.035 billion, narrowing the gap with second-ranked PayPal USD at $2.87 billion to below $1 billion. A total of 171 million new tokens were issued in a single day, including batches of 40 million, 25 million and 20 million. The issuance network, previously centred on ethereum, is also showing a shift as supply on the XRP Ledger nears $1 billion. It is still far short of USDT at $183 billion and USDC at $73 billion, but its growth pace is among the steepest in the market.

• “Success of a won stablecoin depends on real-world use and distribution networks”

Discussions on institutionalising a won stablecoin are expanding beyond who issues it to how to build actual use cases and distribution infrastructure. Some say institutional mechanisms must be prepared alongside efforts to develop new demand such as tokenised securities, cross-border payments and AI-based micropayments, while ensuring financial stability and user protection.

• Digital X to make all won-market trading fees free for 1 year • Coinone sets fees at “0 won” for all assets after Digital X’s 1-year free declaration • Korbit, taken under Mirae Asset, offers “1-year free fees”...impact on exchange landscape

Digital X, the operator of crypto exchange Korbit, declared it will waive trading fees for all assets in its won market for a full year, stirring the domestic exchange market. The measure is a strategy to lift both trading volume and liquidity. Exchanges with low volume lack enough buy and sell orders, making it hard to trade at desired prices. If removing fees draws in users, orders can rise and trading conditions can improve.

Following Digital X, Coinone also decided to cut fees for all assets to 0 percent. It may not be easy to immediately shake the duopoly of Upbit and Bithumb, but it is expected to become a variable in the fight with Coinone for third place.