Bitcoin reclaimed $80,000 on Thursday after breaking a key $79,000 resistance level, pushing its market cap back to $1.61 trillion and putting it on pace for a 20%+ gain in August. The rally coincided with a looming $92 billion Treasury bill auction and renewed scrutiny of Scott Bessent's bond-buyback strategy, which Ray Dalio says could push capital toward safe havens like bitcoin.
Bitcoin Breaks Key Resistance
Bitcoin reclaimed $80,000 per unit on Thursday, breaking through a $79,000 resistance level that had held since shortly after Tuesday's monthly high. The rebound came amid reports that the U.S. Treasury is set to auction $92 billion in three-month bills on Aug. 31.
According to 24-hour chart data, bitcoin rose from under $77,900 to just above $79,000 Wednesday night before hitting an intraday peak of $80,808. Selling pressure briefly dragged the price back below that threshold, but buyers pushed it higher again starting around 4 a.m. EST.
In a second leg up, bitcoin briefly tapped $80,500 before breaching that level to reach its daily high. As of 12:12 p.m. EST, the cryptocurrency traded above $80,400, a 24-hour gain of roughly 3%. That move lifted its market capitalization back to $1.61 trillion. With three days left in August, bitcoin looks set to close the month up more than 20%, a sharp reversal from July's nearly flat price action.
Leveraged Bets Get Liquidated
The volatility triggered $105 million in bitcoin liquidations over 24 hours, a form of forced liquidation that hits leveraged traders hardest. Short positions accounted for roughly $80 million of those losses, while short liquidations made up nearly 70% ($286 million) of the broader $416 million wiped out across crypto markets.
Treasury's Bond Buyback Draws Scrutiny
While unconfirmed, a Treasury auction of that size typically drains short-term market liquidity, though analysts said the net economic impact depends on issuance volumes and bidder demand. Weak auction demand could push short-term yields higher, placing temporary pressure on equities and digital assets.
Separately, a report published by The Economist warned that Bessent's policy risks undermining the credibility of the American financial system. The piece argued that doubling bond buyback limits to suppress long-term yields, while tilting new debt issuance toward short-term bills, merely shortens the duration of government liabilities and leaves the U.S. more exposed to future interest rate spikes and rollover risks.
The report also said shifting government debt heavily into short-dated bills risks crowding out private-sector financial instruments, while capping borrowing costs without addressing structural deficits distorts market pricing. It added that abandoning the traditional principle of regular and predictable debt issuance for discretionary yield management threatens long-term investor confidence in U.S. sovereign debt.
Dalio Sees Capital Rotating Into Bitcoin
The U.S. Treasury has defended its actions, but Ray Dalio has argued that the moves effectively lower the inflation-adjusted return on traditional fixed income. As a result, capital searching for long-term store-of-value properties may rotate out of sovereign bonds and into alternative safe havens like gold and bitcoin, both of which have trended higher since the Treasury's announcement.
Source: Bitcoin.com News
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