Bitcoin rose 26% in August, briefly topping $81,000, as Pantera Capital founder Dan Morehead linked the rally to what he called a failed expansion of the U.S. Treasury’s bond buyback program. On August 19, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled the repurchase cap to at least $4 billion per operation, a mechanism through which the government buys back its own debt to influence bond yields and ease borrowing costs. Morehead said the amount appeared insignificant beside the $2 trillion in bonds the Treasury must sell each year, arguing that the disparity highlighted the government’s debt burden. Bitcoin’s August gain was its strongest monthly performance since November 2025 and the first net positive August since 2021. BTC was trading near $77,258 at press time, according to BeInCrypto data. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh offered a counterpoint at Jackson Hole, saying stronger growth could push interest rates higher and reduce demand for yield-free assets such as bitcoin. Gold and Bitcoin both fell after his speech. Morehead maintains that crypto is a macro trade that benefits as governments expand debt. He also cited Pantera’s forecast that Bitcoin would peak at $117,542 on August 10, 2025, saying the prediction was accurate and that the same four-year cycle model points to another advance after the pullback. He said the pattern has held for the 13 years Pantera has tracked it and expects a new upswing near the end of this year, followed by another two to three year run.