The U.S. Treasury is preparing to disclose the size of an expanded bond buyback program after the announcement helped drive a 20% Bitcoin surge last month. Bitcoin returned to $80,000 in August after trading near $60,000 for months, although the source says another cryptocurrency outpaced it. The pending announcement follows U.S. president Donald Trump’s surprise assault on the Federal Reserve (U.S. central bank). Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he has "asymmetric" information when making market calls, referring to efforts to strengthen Japan’s yen and his insight into the actions of Japanese policymakers and the Bank of Japan. Trader Mel Mattison predicted a buyback of nearly $8 billion, while Wrightson ICAP senior economist Lou Crandall estimated $5 billion to $6 billion, above the "at least" $4 billion initially announced. Ed Yardeni also said Bessent could issue more Treasury bills to buy back bonds if rising yields threaten to trigger a selling panic.