Bitcoin climbed above $70,000 for the first time since June, hitting $72,207 as of press time, a 15% gain since Monday. The move came as the US Treasury doubled its long-dated debt buyback plan, easing bond market pressure, and as President Trump met with crypto executives to push for a vote on the CLARITY Act. The rally triggered a wave of short liquidations totaling $3.1 billion.
Treasury doubles buyback, yields pull back
The US Treasury said it will buy back at least $4 billion of long-dated debt per operation starting Sept 9, up from $2 billion. The 30-year Treasury yield had hit 5.34%, its highest since 2007, before the announcement; yields fell afterward. That relief helped risk assets, including bitcoin.
The move was accompanied by a 5.8-standard-deviation gain relative to Bitcoin's 30-day volatility, the largest upside shock since October 2023, according to Glassnode.
Trump courts crypto executives ahead of CLARITY vote
President Trump met with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse, and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, urging lawmakers to pass a 'fair version' of the CLARITY Act. The legislation would define which digital assets are securities or commodities and how oversight is split among federal regulators. A procedural vote is set for Sept 15, requiring 60 votes to advance.
Trump also floated expanding the government's crypto holdings, but stopped short of announcing purchases. His 2025 executive order created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directed officials to explore budget-neutral ways to acquire more.
Short squeeze and profit-taking
More than $3.1 billion of bearish positions were liquidated over 24 hours, versus about $277 million of longs. Bitcoin accounted for roughly $1.8 billion of short liquidations, Ethereum nearly $1.2 billion. The largest single liquidation was a $48.8 million BTC position on Hyperliquid.
CryptoQuant reported that bitcoin's move above $70,000 carried it above the roughly $67,100 average cost basis of short-term holders; those investors sent more than 44,300 BTC to exchanges, the largest profit-taking wave this year. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index climbed to its highest level since October 2025. Bitcoin also cleared its 200-day moving average near $69,000.
The CLARITY Act's procedural vote on Sept 15 will be the next major test for the sector, with the bill needing 60 votes to advance.
