Crypto markets ended Aug. 29 virtually flat at approximately $2.73 trillion as sharp swings erased gains accumulated earlier in the week. Bitcoin briefly rose above $81,000 after momentum from a U.S. Treasury bond buyback announcement carried into Aug. 25, then traded between $77,000 and $79,000 before reclaiming $81,000 Thursday. It later fell below $77,000 around Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole address and recovered to $78,000 by Saturday afternoon, recording a 1% weekly gain and remaining on track for an August increase of more than 20%. Altcoins diverged widely: Solana (SOL) advanced after Charles Schwab said it would add SOL, AVAX and LINK to customer accounts in the near future, while Dogecoin fell 7.2%, XRP declined nearly 7%, and ADA, XLM and BCH dropped more than 10%. RAIN rose 24%, and Monero (XMR) climbed from $425 to $463. Altcoin market capitalization increased from $1.13 trillion to $1.18 trillion, just over 4%. Arch Lending co-founder and CTO Himanshu Sahay said bitcoin’s parallel movement with gold reflects a broader reassessment of scarce assets and suggests the cryptocurrency is increasingly traded within a macroeconomic framework rather than solely on crypto-specific narratives.