Bitcoin rose 21% from the U.S. Treasury’s buyback-expansion announcement and more than 23% from roughly $64,000, briefly reaching $79,455 before trading near $77,598 on Aug. 21, 2026. Glassnode attributed the move to renewed concern about dollar weakness, potential liquidity from Treasury buybacks and demand for Bitcoin as a limited-supply currency-debasement hedge. Short covering amplified the rally, with liquidation reports varying by period: approximately $1.24 billion in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, including roughly $730 million in BTC positions; $2.75 billion in Bitcoin shorts on Aug. 19; $783.2 million in BTC liquidations over the following 24 hours; and other reports citing record losses of $3 billion for Bitcoin short sellers and $1.74 billion in crypto short liquidations. Cumulative Binance data showed August short liquidations of $7.739 billion versus $7.582 billion in longs. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows ranged from roughly $487 million across Aug. 17-18 to $606.29 million on Aug. 20 and $1.61 billion across four sessions, although another report said ETFs shed 77,000 BTC in a quarter. Analysts said sustained spot demand, liquidity and stronger macroeconomic support are still needed. Robinhood rose 13.28% to $107.73, while Coinbase, Strategy, Canaan, MARA Holdings and Strive also advanced; Robinhood’s second-quarter crypto transaction revenue fell 38% year over year to $100 million despite record total revenue of $1.31 billion.