Pantera Capital portfolio manager Cosmo Jiang said "smart money" was flowing back into Bitcoin and that any pullback could be shallow, with resistance near $80,000. Bitcoin rose from $62,679 on August 17 to $79,500 on August 21 during a five-day winning streak, recording its best weekly gain in years and challenging Peter Brandt’s earlier $58,000–$62,000 bearish target. Reports cited Bitcoin at $77,412 after a gain of more than 23% in a week and at $76,569, down 0.84% over 24 hours but up 21.56% over seven days, with the differences reflecting reporting times. The rally revived crypto optimism, including memes and HODL chants, but one account attributed the move mainly to a record short squeeze and short covering. Jiang pointed to stablecoin adoption, prediction markets, perpetual futures and artificial-intelligence crossover as bullish fundamentals, while U.S. regulatory and Treasury-market developments and concerns about mounting fiscal strains also supported the asset.