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Charles Schwab plans to add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to Schwab Crypto in the coming months.
The platform launched in May 2026 with bitcoin and ether and charges 75 basis points per trade.
Schwab reported $13.04 trillion in client assets and 39.9 million brokerage accounts as of July 31, 2026.
The service is unavailable in New York, Louisiana, U.S. territories and international jurisdictions, and Schwab may delay or withdraw support.
Charles Schwab said Thursday it will expand Schwab Crypto beyond bitcoin and ether by adding Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX) and Chainlink (LINK) for clients to buy and sell in the coming months, according to a company announcement.
The brokerage framed the listings as a client-demand move toward established tokens rather than a broad altcoin rollout. Schwab Crypto began reaching retail clients in May 2026 with direct bitcoin and ether trading through Schwab.com, the Schwab mobile app and thinkorswim, as noted in the same release.
In a post on X, the firm said clients will soon be able to trade the three tokens in Schwab Crypto accounts and pointed users to a waitlist for updates and early access. No exact listing date was given.
The distribution channel is large relative to most crypto venues. Schwab reported $13.04 trillion in total client assets and 39.9 million active brokerage accounts as of July 31, 2026, in its latest monthly activity highlights. Crypto accounts sit at Charles Schwab Premier Bank and are linked to a brokerage relationship; not every client will qualify.
Pricing is 75 basis points, or 0.75%, of each trade’s dollar value, which Schwab called among the lowest in the industry in the press release. That fee is still higher than many dedicated exchanges. The offering is available in all U.S. states except New York and Louisiana and is not offered in U.S. territories or internationally.
Joe Vietri, head of digital assets at Charles Schwab, said in the statement that the expansion gives clients “more choices to build a digital asset allocation alongside the investing and banking experience they know and trust at Schwab,” and that the tokens would be backed by education, tools and support.
Schwab also said it plans to add more digital assets over time, while warning it may delay, modify or withdraw support for any announced asset based on market, regulatory, operational or risk developments. Cryptocurrencies held in the accounts are not FDIC-insured or SIPC-protected and can lose value, the firm said.
For traders, the listings widen regulated retail access to SOL, AVAX and LINK without moving assets off a traditional brokerage stack. The trade-off is a narrow token menu, a 75-basis-point ticket, geographic limits and no confirmed go-live date.
The post Charles Schwab to Add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to Crypto Platform appeared first on Cryptopress.

<ul><li>Charles Schwab plans to add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to Schwab Crypto in the coming months.</li><li>The platform launched in May 2026 with bitcoin and ether and charges 75 basis points per trade.</li><li>Schwab reported $13.04 trillion in client assets and 39.9 million brokerage accounts as of July 31, 2026.</li><li>The service is unavailable in New York, Louisiana, U.S. territories and international jurisdictions, and Schwab may delay or withdraw support.</li></ul><p class="has-drop-cap">Charles Schwab said Thursday it will expand <strong>Schwab Crypto</strong> beyond bitcoin and ether by adding <strong>Solana (SOL)</strong>, <strong>Avalanche (AVAX)</strong> and <strong>Chainlink (LINK)</strong> for clients to buy and sell in the coming months, according to a <a href="https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Charles-Schwab-Announces-Plans-to-Expand-Digital-Assets-Available-in-Schwab-Crypto-Accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">company announcement</a>.</p><p>The brokerage framed the listings as a <strong>client-demand</strong> move toward established tokens rather than a broad altcoin rollout. Schwab Crypto began reaching retail clients in <strong>May 2026</strong> with direct bitcoin and ether trading through Schwab.com, the Schwab mobile app and thinkorswim, as noted in the same <a href="https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Charles-Schwab-Announces-Plans-to-Expand-Digital-Assets-Available-in-Schwab-Crypto-Accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>.</p><p>In a <a href="https://x.com/CharlesSchwab/status/2092971656633327719" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post on X</a>, the firm said clients will <strong>soon</strong> be able to trade the three tokens in Schwab Crypto accounts and pointed users to a waitlist for updates and early access. No exact listing date was given.</p><p>The distribution channel is large relative to most crypto venues. Schwab reported <strong>$13.04 trillion</strong> in total client assets and <strong>39.9 million</strong> active brokerage accounts as of July 31, 2026, in its latest <a href="https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Schwab-Reports-Monthly-Activity-Highlights-f6515f5a5/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monthly activity highlights</a>. Crypto accounts sit at Charles Schwab Premier Bank and are linked to a brokerage relationship; not every client will qualify.</p><p>Pricing is <strong>75 basis points</strong>, or <strong>0.75%</strong>, of each trade’s dollar value, which Schwab called among the lowest in the industry in the <a href="https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Charles-Schwab-Announces-Plans-to-Expand-Digital-Assets-Available-in-Schwab-Crypto-Accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. That fee is still higher than many dedicated exchanges. The offering is available in all U.S. states except <strong>New York</strong> and <strong>Louisiana</strong> and is not offered in U.S. territories or internationally.</p><p>Joe Vietri, head of digital assets at Charles Schwab, said in the <a href="https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Charles-Schwab-Announces-Plans-to-Expand-Digital-Assets-Available-in-Schwab-Crypto-Accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> that the expansion gives clients “more choices to build a digital asset allocation alongside the investing and banking experience they know and trust at Schwab,” and that the tokens would be backed by education, tools and support.</p><p>Schwab also said it plans to add more digital assets over time, while warning it may <strong>delay, modify or withdraw</strong> support for any announced asset based on market, regulatory, operational or risk developments. Cryptocurrencies held in the accounts are not FDIC-insured or SIPC-protected and can lose value, the firm said.</p><p>For traders, the listings widen regulated retail access to SOL, AVAX and LINK without moving assets off a traditional brokerage stack. The trade-off is a narrow token menu, a 75-basis-point ticket, geographic limits and no confirmed go-live date.</p>

Bitcoin briefly topped $81,000 this week, its highest level since May, before easing near $79,000.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in $314 million on Tuesday and about $232 million on Wednesday, lifting August inflows above $3 billion.
CryptoQuant’s Bull Score jumped from 30 to 80 in a week; a close above the $83,100 365-day moving average is still needed for official confirmation.
Bernstein’s base case sees bitcoin at $150,000 by mid-2027 and about $300,000 in 2029.
Bitcoin is consolidating near $79,000 after a sharp weekly advance that briefly pushed the cryptocurrency above $81,000 for the first time since May, as U.S. spot exchange-traded funds extended a multi-day inflow streak and onchain analytics firm CryptoQuant said the market has entered the early phase of a new bull cycle.
The largest cryptocurrency rallied more than 23% over seven days from levels below $65,000, according to CoinDesk, before traders took profits. The move was tied to two macro catalysts cited by CryptoQuant in coverage by The Block: the U.S. Treasury’s plan to double long-term government bond buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation from Sept. 9, and comments from President Donald Trump suggesting the U.S. government may consider buying bitcoin.
Institutional demand remained visible even as price cooled. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $314.37 million in net inflows on Tuesday, a seventh consecutive session, lifting August totals to $3.03 billion, Cointelegraph reported citing SoSoValue. Combined net assets stood at $99.05 billion. On Wednesday the funds added about $232 million, stretching the streak to eight days and bringing inflows over that run to roughly $2.8 billion, according to CoinDesk live updates. BlackRock’s IBIT absorbed the bulk of Tuesday’s flow.
CryptoQuant said its Bull Score surged from 30 to 80 in one week, the strongest reading since Oct. 6, 2025, when bitcoin traded around $124,000, with eight of 10 tracked metrics flashing bullish. The firm still treats a close above the 365-day moving average, now near $83,100, as the line for an “official” confirmation. “A decisive break above $83,000 would confirm the new bull market; until then, that level is likely to act as initial resistance, with the possibility of an early bull market correction,” the firm said in the The Block report.
Wall Street research firm Bernstein separately argued the rebound fits a longer “debasement trade.” In its base case, bitcoin returns to about $125,000 by the end of 2026, reaches a new all-time high of $150,000 by mid-2027, and peaks near $300,000 in 2029, while a bull case extends to $200,000 by mid-2027 and $500,000 in 2029, The Block reported. The firm kept a longer-term target of about $1 million by 2033.
Near-term risks remain. CoinDesk noted falling futures open interest and a tilt toward short-term bearish flow after the vertical advance, while Pedro Fontes, a research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, flagged $82,000 and $85,000 as the next resistance levels and said some consolidation would be natural. Year-to-date, spot bitcoin ETFs are still net negative by more than $2 billion despite August’s rebound.
The post Bitcoin Holds Near $79,000 After Rallying Past $81,000 as ETF Inflows Top $3 Billion appeared first on Cryptopress.

<ul><li>Bitcoin briefly topped <strong>$81,000</strong> this week, its highest level since May, before easing near <strong>$79,000</strong>.</li><li>U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in <strong>$314 million</strong> on Tuesday and about <strong>$232 million</strong> on Wednesday, lifting August inflows above <strong>$3 billion</strong>.</li><li>CryptoQuant's Bull Score jumped from <strong>30 to 80</strong> in a week; a close above the <strong>$83,100</strong> 365-day moving average is still needed for official confirmation.</li><li>Bernstein's base case sees bitcoin at <strong>$150,000</strong> by mid-2027 and about <strong>$300,000</strong> in 2029.</li></ul><p class="has-drop-cap">Bitcoin is consolidating near <strong>$79,000</strong> after a sharp weekly advance that briefly pushed the cryptocurrency above <strong>$81,000</strong> for the first time since May, as U.S. spot exchange-traded funds extended a multi-day inflow streak and onchain analytics firm CryptoQuant said the market has entered the early phase of a new bull cycle.</p><p>The largest cryptocurrency rallied more than <strong>23%</strong> over seven days from levels below <strong>$65,000</strong>, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/08/26/bitcoin-takes-a-breather-after-adding-23-in-7-days-as-etf-demand-holds-steady" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk</a>, before traders took profits. The move was tied to two macro catalysts cited by <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-26-cryptoquant-bitcoin-bull-market-83000-official-confirmation-412822" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CryptoQuant in coverage by The Block</a>: the U.S. Treasury's plan to double long-term government bond buybacks to at least <strong>$4 billion</strong> per operation from Sept. 9, and comments from President Donald Trump suggesting the U.S. government may consider buying bitcoin.</p><p>Institutional demand remained visible even as price cooled. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recorded <strong>$314.37 million</strong> in net inflows on Tuesday, a seventh consecutive session, lifting August totals to <strong>$3.03 billion</strong>, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etf-august-inflows-surge-past-3-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cointelegraph reported citing SoSoValue</a>. Combined net assets stood at <strong>$99.05 billion</strong>. On Wednesday the funds added about <strong>$232 million</strong>, stretching the streak to eight days and bringing inflows over that run to roughly <strong>$2.8 billion</strong>, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/08/27/live-updates-bitcoin-etf-inflows-hit-eight-straight-days-as-august-tops-usd3-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk live updates</a>. BlackRock's IBIT absorbed the bulk of Tuesday's flow.</p><p>CryptoQuant said its Bull Score surged from <strong>30 to 80</strong> in one week, the strongest reading since Oct. 6, 2025, when bitcoin traded around <strong>$124,000</strong>, with eight of 10 tracked metrics flashing bullish. The firm still treats a close above the 365-day moving average, now near <strong>$83,100</strong>, as the line for an "official" confirmation. "A decisive break above $83,000 would confirm the new bull market; until then, that level is likely to act as initial resistance, with the possibility of an early bull market correction," the firm said in the <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-26-cryptoquant-bitcoin-bull-market-83000-official-confirmation-412822" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block report</a>.</p><p>Wall Street research firm Bernstein separately argued the rebound fits a longer "debasement trade." In its base case, bitcoin returns to about <strong>$125,000</strong> by the end of 2026, reaches a new all-time high of <strong>$150,000</strong> by mid-2027, and peaks near <strong>$300,000</strong> in 2029, while a bull case extends to <strong>$200,000</strong> by mid-2027 and <strong>$500,000</strong> in 2029, <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-26-bernstein-sees-bitcoin-reaching-150000-by-mid-2027-amid-debasement-trade-but-cuts-strategy-target-to-350-412778" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block reported</a>. The firm kept a longer-term target of about <strong>$1 million</strong> by 2033.</p><p>Near-term risks remain. CoinDesk noted falling futures open interest and a tilt toward short-term bearish flow after the vertical advance, while Pedro Fontes, a research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, flagged <strong>$82,000</strong> and <strong>$85,000</strong> as the next resistance levels and said some consolidation would be natural. Year-to-date, spot bitcoin ETFs are still net negative by more than <strong>$2 billion</strong> despite August's rebound.</p>

Bitcoin briefly traded above $81,000 on Aug. 25, its first move above $80,000 since May, before settling near $79,000.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded about $1.9 billion in net inflows last week, the strongest weekly total since October 2025.
The rally followed the U.S. Treasury plan to at least double long-dated bond buybacks to $4 billion per operation.
CryptoQuant’s Bull Score jumped to 80, its highest reading since October 2025.
Analysts described the rebound as a catch-up trade and said it is too early to call a new bull market.
Bitcoin briefly reclaimed the $80,000 level on Tuesday for the first time since May, trading as high as $81,240.68 before profit-taking pulled the price back toward $79,000 in Wednesday’s Asian session, according to CNBC and CoinDesk.
The move capped a sharp seven-day advance of roughly 23% to 25%, one of bitcoin’s strongest weekly dollar gains of the cycle. Ether held weekly gains near 29% even as it slipped to just under $2,465, while XRP remained up almost 45% on the week after a more than 4% pullback, CoinDesk reported.
Institutional demand returned alongside the price rebound. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs drew about $1.9 billion in net inflows last week, their largest weekly haul since October 2025, The Block’s analysis of SoSoValue data showed. Combined bitcoin and ether ETF trading volume more than tripled to $29 billion. The streak continued into this week: funds added another $314.37 million on Tuesday, lifting August inflows to $3.03 billion, Cointelegraph reported, citing SoSoValue.
The rally started after the U.S. Treasury announced it would at least double liquidity-support buybacks of longer-dated nominal Treasuries, from a $2 billion maximum per operation to at least $4 billion, effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Lower long-end yields and a weaker dollar revived demand for risk assets. A short squeeze amplified the move: more than $4 billion in bearish crypto positions were liquidated as prices rose, per CNBC.
On-chain and market gauges also flipped. CryptoQuant’s Bull Score surged from 30 to 80, its highest since Oct. 6, 2025, when bitcoin traded near $124,000, with eight of 10 indicators now bullish, CoinDesk reported. Spot and futures demand expanded together for the first time since early October 2025, the firm said.
Analysts remain cautious. In comments to The Block, Presto Research associate researcher Min Jung said: “While it’s too early to call this a full-blown bull market, the move above $80,000 and the ETF inflows look like a catch-up trade since bitcoin has been lagging other risk assets for a while now.” Sticky inflation, Friday’s Jackson Hole remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, and coming U.S. PCE and GDP data remain near-term tests for whether $80,000 holds.
The post Bitcoin Reclaims $80,000 for First Time Since May as ETF Inflows Surge appeared first on Cryptopress.

<ul><li>Bitcoin briefly traded above $81,000 on Aug. 25, its first move above $80,000 since May, before settling near $79,000.</li><li>U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded about $1.9 billion in net inflows last week, the strongest weekly total since October 2025.</li><li>The rally followed the U.S. Treasury plan to at least double long-dated bond buybacks to $4 billion per operation.</li><li>CryptoQuant's Bull Score jumped to 80, its highest reading since October 2025.</li><li>Analysts described the rebound as a catch-up trade and said it is too early to call a new bull market.</li></ul><p class="has-drop-cap">Bitcoin briefly reclaimed the <strong>$80,000</strong> level on Tuesday for the first time since May, trading as high as <strong>$81,240.68</strong> before profit-taking pulled the price back toward <strong>$79,000</strong> in Wednesday's Asian session, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/bitcoin-price-near-80000-cryptocurrency-ether-us-treasuries.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC</a> and <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/08/26/bitcoin-holds-usd79-000-ether-solana-slip-4-as-traders-bank-a-week-of-gains" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk</a>.</p><p>The move capped a sharp seven-day advance of roughly <strong>23% to 25%</strong>, one of bitcoin's strongest weekly dollar gains of the cycle. Ether held weekly gains near <strong>29%</strong> even as it slipped to just under <strong>$2,465</strong>, while XRP remained up almost <strong>45%</strong> on the week after a more than 4% pullback, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/08/26/bitcoin-holds-usd79-000-ether-solana-slip-4-as-traders-bank-a-week-of-gains" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk reported</a>.</p><p>Institutional demand returned alongside the price rebound. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs drew about <strong>$1.9 billion</strong> in net inflows last week, their largest weekly haul since October 2025, <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-22-bitcoin-and-ether-etfs-draw-2-6-billion-in-strongest-inflow-week-since-october-tripling-volume-412531" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block's analysis of SoSoValue data</a> showed. Combined bitcoin and ether ETF trading volume more than tripled to <strong>$29 billion</strong>. The streak continued into this week: funds added another <strong>$314.37 million</strong> on Tuesday, lifting August inflows to <strong>$3.03 billion</strong>, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etf-august-inflows-surge-past-3-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cointelegraph reported</a>, citing SoSoValue.</p><p>The rally started after the <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USTREAS/bulletins/425aba1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Treasury announced</a> it would at least double liquidity-support buybacks of longer-dated nominal Treasuries, from a <strong>$2 billion</strong> maximum per operation to at least <strong>$4 billion</strong>, effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Lower long-end yields and a weaker dollar revived demand for risk assets. A short squeeze amplified the move: more than <strong>$4 billion</strong> in bearish crypto positions were liquidated as prices rose, per <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/bitcoin-price-near-80000-cryptocurrency-ether-us-treasuries.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC</a>.</p><p>On-chain and market gauges also flipped. CryptoQuant's Bull Score surged from <strong>30 to 80</strong>, its highest since Oct. 6, 2025, when bitcoin traded near $124,000, with eight of 10 indicators now bullish, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/08/26/bitcoin-holds-usd79-000-ether-solana-slip-4-as-traders-bank-a-week-of-gains" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk reported</a>. Spot and futures demand expanded together for the first time since early October 2025, the firm said.</p><p>Analysts remain cautious. In comments to <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-25-bitcoin-holds-above-80000-412674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a>, Presto Research associate researcher Min Jung said: "While it's too early to call this a full-blown bull market, the move above $80,000 and the ETF inflows look like a catch-up trade since bitcoin has been lagging other risk assets for a while now." Sticky inflation, Friday's Jackson Hole remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, and coming U.S. PCE and GDP data remain near-term tests for whether $80,000 holds.</p>

Bitcoin briefly touched $81,000 and is holding above the $80,000 level for the first time since May.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded approximately $1.9 billion in net inflows last week, the strongest since October 2025.
The rally was triggered by a U.S. Treasury decision to expand long-dated bond buybacks, leading to over $3 billion in short liquidations.
Analysts view the move as a catch-up trade amid lagging performance versus other risk assets, not yet a full bull market.
Bitcoin (BTC) is holding above the $80,000 level after briefly reaching a local high of $81,000 on Monday, extending a sharp rally that saw the cryptocurrency gain roughly 24% last week from below $63,000, according to The Block.
The advance was backed by robust institutional demand, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracting about $1.9 billion in net inflows during the week ending August 22 — the largest weekly total since October 2025 — as The Block reported based on SoSoValue data. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for the majority of the inflows, while trading volumes more than tripled and assets under management rose to around $96 billion.
The key catalyst was the U.S. Treasury’s move to at least double its buybacks of long-dated bonds, which eased yields, weakened the dollar, and revived the debasement trade. This cracked Bitcoin’s prior trading range and triggered more than $3 billion in short liquidations within 24 hours, according to a CoinDesk markets report.
“While it’s too early to call this a full-blown bull market, the move above $80,000 and the ETF inflows look like a catch-up trade since bitcoin has been lagging other risk assets for a while now,” said Min Jung, associate researcher at Presto Research, in comments to The Block.
Ethereum also participated strongly, with spot ETH ETFs drawing roughly $697 million in the same week. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has shifted into “Extreme Greed” territory. However, analysts caution that sticky inflation, geopolitical uncertainty, and potential profit-taking could test the sustainability of the rally as markets eye the Jackson Hole Symposium and upcoming economic data.
The post Bitcoin Holds Above $80,000 as ETF Inflows and Treasury Buybacks Fuel Rally appeared first on Cryptopress.

Total Bitcoin open interest across derivatives exchanges has slumped to a two-month low, reflecting a broader cooling in speculative leverage.
The decline in open interest indicates that market participants are unwinding futures positions amid recent price consolidation and heightened volatility.
Traders and analysts are monitoring funding rates and liquidation volumes to gauge whether the market is finding a durable bottom after the recent flush.
Bitcoin open interest has retreated to a two-month low, signaling a substantial cooling period in the cryptocurrency derivatives market as speculative positions are cleared out. According to on-chain data tracked via platforms such as CoinDesk, the total notional value of open futures contracts has experienced a notable contraction over the past several trading sessions.
The reduction in open interest typically points to a market-wide deleveraging event, where both long and short positions are closed out either voluntarily by cautious traders or forcibly through exchange liquidations. This flush of leveraged capital often lowers the risk of cascading liquidation cascades, potentially setting the stage for a more stable spot-driven market environment.
Market analysts monitoring the derivatives landscape note that funding rates across major centralized exchanges have stabilized following the sharp reduction in open interest. While lower open interest can sometimes translate to a temporary decrease in market liquidity, it also reduces systemic vulnerability to sudden price swings driven by excessive leverage. Institutional and retail participants alike are now closely watching volume metrics and order book depth to determine if the current consolidation phase will pave the way for a renewed directional trend.
The post Bitcoin Open Interest Falls to Two-Month Low Amid Market Deleveraging appeared first on Cryptopress.

Bitcoin holds near $77,000–$78,500 after its strongest weekly performance in years, climbing roughly 22–24% from the mid-$62,000s–$64,000 range to highs above $79,000. The move marked the largest single-week dollar gain on record (about $14,000) and the second-best weekly percentage advance since early 2021.
U.S. Treasury expansion of long-dated bond buybacks to at least $4 billion eased yields, weakened the dollar and revived the debasement trade alongside gold. Combined with consecutive multi-hundred-million-dollar spot Bitcoin ETF inflows totaling $1.92 billion (strongest week since October 2025), more than $3 billion in short liquidations, White House crypto engagement, Trump support for the CLARITY Act ahead of a September 15 procedural vote, and SEC “Regulation Crypto Assets” proposals, the catalysts flipped sentiment from apathy to greed (Fear & Greed Index at 78). Ethereum outperformed with ~31% gains, while total crypto market cap reached approximately $2.63–$2.7 trillion.
Other news:
Positive
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $1.92B weekly net inflows; Ethereum ETFs added ~$697M.Grayscale spot Zcash ETF filing powered ZEC’s ~70% weekly surge.Ray Dalio recommended investors own “a bit of Bitcoin” amid U.S. debt risks.Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) raised $2B via MSTR share sales and built a $5.1B USD cash reserve.Standard Chartered became the first bank to distribute a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin.White House meeting and Trump comments advanced support for clearer U.S. crypto market structure.
Neutral
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole debut this week is the key near-term macro event.Pakistan launched a crypto licensing regime with a September 5 registration deadline.SEC proposed token-offering exemptions under “Regulation Crypto Assets” while CLARITY Act awaits September action.
Negative
Weekend leverage squeeze liquidated hundreds of millions in long positions after the peak.MANTRA Chain freeze and BounceBit Layer-1 shutdown after exploits.Tether exited its Uruguay mining project over power-contract risks.Earlier XRP flash crash (up to ~37% intraday) highlighted leverage fragility despite weekly gains.
What coins are moving the most lately? Movers, buying opportunities (if any)
Standout weekly movers include Zcash (ZEC, ~62–71%), XRP (~48–53%), Ethena (ENA, ~87–100%), Pump.fun (PUMP, ~70–80%), Stacks (STX, ~96–100%), Hyperliquid (HYPE, ~35–38%), Solana (~25%), Ethereum (~28–31%) and Dogecoin (~30%). Bitcoin itself added the largest absolute value.
Buying opportunities remain selective after the vertical move: pullbacks toward prior breakout levels (Bitcoin $71,000–$75,000 zone) or relative-strength alts that lag the leaders but show improving on-chain/ETF flows could offer better risk-reward than chasing overbought names at extremes. High short-term-holder profit percentages and weekend long liquidations suggest near-term consolidation risk before any further extension toward $80,000+.
Bitcoin price evolution last 7 days (approx. closes/representative levels): Aug 17 ~$64.5k → Aug 24 ~$78k.
Zcash illustrative weekly trajectory reflecting the ~70% rally that led major altcoins.
The post Title: Bitcoin’s 23% Weekly Surge: Treasury Buybacks and CLARITY Momentum Fuel Crypto Rally appeared first on Cryptopress.

<ul><li>Total Bitcoin open interest across derivatives exchanges has slumped to a <strong>two-month low</strong>, reflecting a broader cooling in speculative leverage.</li><li>The decline in open interest indicates that market participants are unwinding futures positions amid recent price consolidation and heightened volatility.</li><li>Traders and analysts are monitoring funding rates and liquidation volumes to gauge whether the market is finding a durable bottom after the recent flush.</li></ul><p>Bitcoin open interest has retreated to a <strong>two-month low</strong>, signaling a substantial cooling period in the cryptocurrency derivatives market as speculative positions are cleared out. According to on-chain data tracked via platforms such as <a href="https://www.coindesk.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk</a>, the total notional value of open futures contracts has experienced a notable contraction over the past several trading sessions.</p><p>The reduction in open interest typically points to a market-wide <strong>deleveraging event</strong>, where both long and short positions are closed out either voluntarily by cautious traders or forcibly through exchange liquidations. This flush of leveraged capital often lowers the risk of cascading liquidation cascades, potentially setting the stage for a more stable spot-driven market environment.</p><p>Market analysts monitoring the derivatives landscape note that funding rates across major centralized exchanges have stabilized following the sharp reduction in open interest. While lower open interest can sometimes translate to a temporary decrease in market liquidity, it also reduces systemic vulnerability to sudden price swings driven by excessive leverage. Institutional and retail participants alike are now closely watching volume metrics and order book depth to determine if the current consolidation phase will pave the way for a renewed directional trend.</p>

<ul><li>Bitcoin briefly touched $81,000 and is holding above the $80,000 level for the first time since May.</li><li>U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded approximately $1.9 billion in net inflows last week, the strongest since October 2025.</li><li>The rally was triggered by a U.S. Treasury decision to expand long-dated bond buybacks, leading to over $3 billion in short liquidations.</li><li>Analysts view the move as a catch-up trade amid lagging performance versus other risk assets, not yet a full bull market.</li></ul><p class="has-drop-cap">Bitcoin (BTC) is holding above the <strong>$80,000</strong> level after briefly reaching a local high of <strong>$81,000</strong> on Monday, extending a sharp rally that saw the cryptocurrency gain roughly <strong>24%</strong> last week from below $63,000, according to <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-25-bitcoin-holds-above-80000-412674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a>.</p><p>The advance was backed by robust institutional demand, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracting about <strong>$1.9 billion</strong> in net inflows during the week ending August 22 — the largest weekly total since October 2025 — as <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-22-bitcoin-and-ether-etfs-draw-2-6-billion-in-strongest-inflow-week-since-october-tripling-volume-412531" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block reported</a> based on SoSoValue data. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for the majority of the inflows, while trading volumes more than tripled and assets under management rose to around <strong>$96 billion</strong>.</p><p>The key catalyst was the U.S. Treasury’s move to at least double its buybacks of long-dated bonds, which eased yields, weakened the dollar, and revived the debasement trade. This cracked Bitcoin’s prior trading range and triggered more than <strong>$3 billion</strong> in short liquidations within 24 hours, according to a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/08/24/bitcoin-steadies-near-usd78-000-as-gold-rallies-altcoins-consolidate-after-best-week-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk markets report</a>.</p><p>“While it’s too early to call this a full-blown bull market, the move above $80,000 and the ETF inflows look like a catch-up trade since bitcoin has been lagging other risk assets for a while now,” said Min Jung, associate researcher at Presto Research, in comments to <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-25-bitcoin-holds-above-80000-412674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a>.</p><p>Ethereum also participated strongly, with spot ETH ETFs drawing roughly <strong>$697 million</strong> in the same week. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has shifted into “Extreme Greed” territory. However, analysts caution that sticky inflation, geopolitical uncertainty, and potential profit-taking could test the sustainability of the rally as markets eye the Jackson Hole Symposium and upcoming economic data.</p>

Bitcoin posted its largest weekly gain measured in dollars in history, rising $14,264 to close the week ended Aug. 23 at $77,387, according to The Block. The move represented a 22.7% increase over seven days and marked the cryptocurrency’s strongest dollar-denominated weekly performance on record.
The advance was supported by renewed institutional demand. U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds attracted $1.92 billion in net inflows in the trading week ended Aug. 21, the largest weekly total since the height of the prior cycle in October 2025, data cited by The Block showed. Ether ETFs also saw strong inflows, contributing to broader market momentum that lifted several major tokens into double-digit weekly gains.
Macro catalysts played a central role. On Aug. 19, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would at least double the size of liquidity-support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities in the 10- to 30-year segments, raising the per-operation maximum to at least $4 billion, as reported by Bloomberg. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later indicated the size could exceed that figure depending on market conditions. The announcement initially eased long-term yields and supported risk assets, including bitcoin, which briefly approached $80,000 before consolidating near $77,000.
Strive Chairman and CEO Matt Cole highlighted bitcoin’s performance against both the dollar and gold. In a post on X, Cole wrote that the breakout “reinforcing my view that the next Bitcoin cycle will be the strongest we have ever seen,” citing structural forces including a potential secular decline in the dollar and rising demand for scarce assets in an AI-driven environment. The Block reported Cole stating the comparative strength “shows that the next bitcoin cycle will be the strongest we have ever seen.”
Bitcoin held above $77,000 into the new week as traders monitored upcoming events including the Jackson Hole symposium, according to CoinDesk. While the rapid advance has raised questions about near-term consolidation, the combination of ETF demand and liquidity signals has shifted market focus toward whether the gains can be sustained.
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<p>Bitcoin posted its largest weekly gain measured in dollars in history, rising <strong>$14,264</strong> to close the week ended Aug. 23 at <strong>$77,387</strong>, according to <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-23-bitcoin-record-weekly-dollar-gain-412547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a>. The move represented a <strong>22.7%</strong> increase over seven days and marked the cryptocurrency’s strongest dollar-denominated weekly performance on record.</p><p>The advance was supported by renewed institutional demand. U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds attracted <strong>$1.92 billion</strong> in net inflows in the trading week ended Aug. 21, the largest weekly total since the height of the prior cycle in October 2025, data cited by <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-23-bitcoin-record-weekly-dollar-gain-412547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a> showed. Ether ETFs also saw strong inflows, contributing to broader market momentum that lifted several major tokens into double-digit weekly gains.</p><p>Macro catalysts played a central role. On Aug. 19, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would at least double the size of liquidity-support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities in the 10- to 30-year segments, raising the per-operation maximum to at least <strong>$4 billion</strong>, as reported by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-19/long-dated-treasuries-rally-as-treasury-boosts-bond-buybacks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg</a>. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later indicated the size could exceed that figure depending on market conditions. The announcement initially eased long-term yields and supported risk assets, including bitcoin, which briefly approached <strong>$80,000</strong> before consolidating near <strong>$77,000</strong>.</p><p>Strive Chairman and CEO Matt Cole highlighted bitcoin’s performance against both the dollar and gold. In a <a href="https://x.com/ColeMacro/status/2091678987605225745" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post on X</a>, Cole wrote that the breakout “reinforcing my view that the next Bitcoin cycle will be the strongest we have ever seen,” citing structural forces including a potential secular decline in the dollar and rising demand for scarce assets in an AI-driven environment. <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-23-bitcoin-record-weekly-dollar-gain-412547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a> reported Cole stating the comparative strength “shows that the next bitcoin cycle will be the strongest we have ever seen.”</p><p>Bitcoin held above <strong>$77,000</strong> into the new week as traders monitored upcoming events including the Jackson Hole symposium, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026-08-24/crypto-holds-big-weekly-rally-as-warsh-s-jackson-hole-debut-comes-into-focus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk</a>. While the rapid advance has raised questions about near-term consolidation, the combination of ETF demand and liquidity signals has shifted market focus toward whether the gains can be sustained.</p>

In May 2026, three major venues listed cash-settled GPU futures within sixteen days. CME partnered with Silicon Data. ICE followed with Ornn. Architect’s American Innovation Exchange joined shortly after. At least six ETF filings appeared before a single contract traded. Larry Fink had already framed the thesis: compute is becoming an asset class. AI capital expenditure hit roughly $765 billion that year, surpassing oil and gas for the first time. The resource powering the next industrial wave needed price discovery, hedging tools, and capital markets.
A Compute Capital Market lets producers and consumers of GPU time hedge and speculate the same way energy, metals, and agricultural markets do. The stack has four layers. Spot and forward capacity platforms—neoclouds, GPU-as-a-service providers, and decentralized compute networks—deliver the physical hours. Index providers turn fragmented rental quotes and private trades into reference prices. Exchanges list standardized, mostly cash-settled futures and options. OTC dealers warehouse the residual basis risk.
This is not abstract finance. Producers fear inventory clearing below cost. Consumers—inference platforms and the growing agentic layer—fear compute becoming more expensive. Agentic AI, models that run multi-step tasks autonomously, burns far more compute than a single prompt. One-year H100 rental rates rose roughly 38 percent in five months from late 2025 into early 2026 while on-demand supply sold out. Both sides need hedges. Traditional venues are racing to supply them. Crypto’s opening sits in the layers those paper markets leave open: cryptographic verification of quality, on-chain financing of hardware, and delivery of capacity into real networks rather than pure speculation.
AI CapEx Surpasses Oil & Gas (2026) Why Compute Resists Clean Financialization
GPU hours are not barrels of oil. Two H100s of the same model can deliver meaningfully different throughput depending on configuration, cooling, networking, and region. Silicon Data’s benchmarking across thousands of GPUs found performance spreads of more than 30 percent even within the same chip family. A single index papers over differences in SKU, location, contract term, and service level. Cash settlement against an off-chain price avoids physical delivery problems, yet it also leaves the hard questions untouched: proof that the compute actually ran at the promised quality, reliable sourcing of capacity for hedgers who need physical settlement, and persistent basis risk across configurations.
Commodity markets have solved similar problems before. Benchmarks emerge through trading. Reservations standardize as curves deepen. The current dealer-intermediated structure is the seed, not the end state. Still, the non-fungibility of high-end accelerators, the speed of hardware generations (Blackwell ramping while residual values of prior chips remain uncertain), and the concentration of power and interconnect create friction that pure financial instruments cannot fully erase.
Crypto’s Role in the Pipeline
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks and related primitives do not need to replace hyperscalers. They need to intermediate specific chokepoints in the AI hardware and data pipeline where traditional capital is slow, verification is weak, or supply is fragmented.
On the financing side, tokenization is already turning GPUs into collateral and cash-flow assets. Projects structure GPU-backed instruments that let operators convert capital expenditure into operating expense while giving investors yield tied to utilization. Akash’s Starbonds approach is one example: SEC-compliant securities designed to fund protocol-aligned, higher-quality GPU capacity that can be deployed into a mesh rather than pure idle-rack marketplaces. Similar models treat data-center racks or individual accelerators as warehouse receipts under commercial law frameworks, unlocking private credit and DeFi liquidity against productive hardware. The same primitives that tokenized real-world assets for real estate or commodities can intermediate the AI supply chain’s most capital-intensive layer.
On the delivery side, decentralized compute networks aggregate dispersed supply—consumer GPUs, edge nodes, underutilized enterprise racks—and surface it through reverse auctions or standardized leases. Akash, Render, io.net and others have moved beyond early speculative staking toward measurable utilization, though availability, quality verification, and enterprise SLAs remain works in progress. The more durable position is the wholesale supply layer: aggregating capacity, providing verifiable resources, and selling in bulk to inference platforms or middle layers rather than competing head-on with AWS for every developer.
Verification is the missing piece traditional futures leave open. Cryptographic proofs that a workload ran on specific hardware at claimed performance, confidential computing environments, and continuous resource attestation turn opaque rental markets into something closer to auditable infrastructure. Without them, cash-settled indices remain vulnerable to gaming and quality disputes.
Data and coordination layers complete the picture. Bittensor’s subnet architecture turns AI work itself into competitive markets. Miners produce outputs, validators score them, and emissions flow toward higher-value contributions. Updates have focused on reducing leakage, concentrating rewards around productive subnets, and improving value capture for the root token. The network does not replace centralized labs; it creates permissionless coordination for specialized tasks, inference, and data pipelines that can feed the broader AI economy. Helium’s trajectory illustrates a parallel maturation in another DePIN vertical. After years of coverage-building, the network shifted toward carrier offload economics, measurable data traffic, and platform-layer positioning. Revenue from real usage began to decouple from pure token speculation, even as token price action remained challenging. The same pattern—usage and cash flow preceding valuation recovery—appears across more mature DePIN networks.
H100 Rental Rate Spike (Oct 2025 – Mar 2026) Real-World Mechanics and Case Studies
Consider the flow of a hedged AI workload. An inference platform locks capacity via a forward contract or futures position. The index provides the reference price. If physical delivery is required, a decentralized network or neocloud supplies the hours. On-chain financing may have funded the underlying GPUs. Proofs confirm execution quality. Settlement occurs against the index or through usage-based payments. Crypto primitives sit at the financing, verification, and fragmented-supply aggregation layers rather than owning the entire stack.
Akash’s evolution from idle-rack marketplace toward protocol-aligned capacity and regulated financing instruments shows one path. Bittensor’s subnet competition and emission refinements show another: turning intelligence production into a market with its own internal capital allocation. Helium demonstrates that DePIN can achieve carrier-scale traffic and measurable offload when incentives align with real demand rather than pure coverage mining. Across these examples, the common thread is the move from subsidy-driven bootstrap to revenue-generating infrastructure that can intermediate parts of the AI pipeline.
Private capital has continued to flow into the sector even as public token valuations compressed. DePIN startups raised substantial seed and Series A capital while on-chain revenues at leading networks grew. The sector as a whole reached roughly $10 billion in circulating market capitalization with tens of millions in annual on-chain revenue, trading at far lower multiples than earlier cycles. The shift from speculative experiments to infrastructure businesses with real cash flows is underway, unevenly and with plenty of failures.
Challenges and Risks
Financialization does not eliminate physical constraints. Power availability, interconnect quality, cooling, and chip supply remain binding. Residual value risk on GPUs is real; aggressive assumptions have burned lessors in prior technology cycles. Index construction can be gamed or simply fail to capture the configurations buyers actually need. Regulatory treatment of tokenized hardware, securities-style instruments, and cross-border capacity remains evolving.
Token economics in many networks still lean heavily on emissions. When emissions exceed revenue capture, price pressure persists even as usage grows. Concentration of control—whether in validator sets, foundation decision-making, or key hardware providers—introduces governance and single-point risks. Quality verification at scale is hard; cryptographic proofs help but do not yet cover every workload type or performance dimension.
Crypto’s advantage is speed of capital formation, transparent incentives, and the ability to aggregate long-tail supply that traditional markets ignore. Its disadvantage is the same as in other infrastructure verticals: the gap between token narrative and durable unit economics. Networks that close that gap by tying rewards tightly to verified usage and by providing genuine delivery or financing utility will intermediate the pipeline. Those that do not will remain speculative overlays.
Outlook: Intermediation, Not Replacement
The AI supply chain will not run on pure Web2 architecture, nor will it be fully decentralized. The more likely path is a hybrid stack in which traditional capital markets and hyperscalers handle the bulk of high-reliability, high-performance demand while crypto primitives intermediate financing, verification, fragmented supply, specialized coordination, and elastic overflow. Compute capital markets make the price of GPU time visible and hedgeable. Tokenization and DePIN turn hardware and data into programmable, financeable assets. Networks that produce measurable intelligence or bandwidth become participants in that market rather than pure token experiments.
For builders and capital allocators the practical questions are concrete. Can the network deliver verifiable capacity at competitive all-in cost? Does the token capture a meaningful share of the economic activity it enables? Is the financing structure robust to hardware depreciation and utilization volatility? Does the coordination mechanism surface higher-quality outputs over time?
The race to financialize compute is already underway in traditional venues. Crypto’s edge lies in the layers those venues cannot easily touch: cryptographic quality proofs, permissionless aggregation of long-tail hardware, and native capital formation for the physical assets themselves. The networks that occupy those layers will not own the AI supply chain. They will intermediate critical segments of it—and that is enough.
Key takeaways:
Compute is becoming a tradable commodity with futures, indices, and hedging demand driven by AI capex and agentic workloads.
Crypto primitives fit best in financing (tokenized GPU-backed instruments), verification (proofs of quality), and fragmented supply aggregation rather than full hyperscaler replacement.
Mature DePIN examples show usage and revenue beginning to decouple from pure speculation, though token economics and quality assurance remain challenges.
The durable opportunity is intermediation of the AI hardware and data pipeline through programmable, verifiable infrastructure.
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Bitcoin closed the week near the mid-$77,000s after a roughly 23–24% climb from the low $63k region, its strongest weekly performance in years. Total crypto market capitalization expanded into the $2.66–2.72 trillion range. Bitcoin dominance hovered around 57–58.5%, giving alts some room to breathe. The Fear & Greed Index flipped hard from the mid-20s/30s (fear) last week into the low-to-mid 70s (greed), with some readings touching extreme greed. Macro tailwinds from liquidity hopes and strong ETF inflows helped fuel the squeeze that wiped out billions in shorts. This is the kind of risk-on reset that makes entire sectors light up at once. The shiniest coins right now are a spicy mix of privacy veterans, synthetic stablecoin plays, perpetual-exchange leaders, and pure degen memes. Here’s the ranked list of what’s actually moving.
The Shiny Coins Right Now
1. ZEC – ~$790–810 +60–65% (7d) Zcash just staged one of the most violent privacy-coin rallies in recent memory, briefly kissing levels near $850 and posting multi-year highs. Grayscale’s ETF progress, the confirmed Zcon7 event, and a broader narrative shift toward privacy coins pulled serious capital. Volume exploded into the billions while open interest and futures activity spiked. Key metric: multi-day volume and futures volume near $10 billion territory at the peak of the move. Short-term outlook: Very Bullish. The privacy meta is finally getting institutional attention again—don’t sleep.
2. HYPE – ~$78–79 +37–40% (7d) Hyperliquid printed a fresh all-time high near $82.50 before consolidating. Perpetual volume, open interest, and regulatory chatter (including U.S. market access speculation) kept the bid firm. This is no longer just a “perp DEX token”—it’s behaving like a blue-chip L1 narrative play. Key metric: new ATH on elevated volume and open interest. Short-term outlook: Bullish. Momentum is real, but the post-ATH flush risk is non-zero.
3. ENA – ~$0.15–0.16 +80–88% (7d) Ethena ripped after the $1 billion FalconX secured warehouse facility for USDe reserves was announced, shifting collateral deployment into overcollateralized institutional credit. Arthur Hayes commentary added fuel. Volume-to-market-cap ratios went parabolic. Key metric: the $1B institutional facility and sharp volume spike. Short-term outlook: Very Bullish. Synthetic-dollar plays are back in favor.
4. TRUMP – ~$2.30–2.45 +65%+ (7d) Official Trump led pure meme volume charts with absolute chaos—daily moves north of 25–30% on multiple sessions and outsized trading volume relative to market cap. Classic degen rotation into political memes during a risk-on week. Key metric: extreme volume-to-mcap and multi-day percentage leadership among mid-caps. Short-term outlook: Cautious. These run hard and die harder.
5. PUMP – ~$0.0049–0.0050 +75–82% (7d) Pump.fun’s token continued its strong multi-week climb as Solana meme-launchpad activity stayed elevated. High volume and consistent outperformance versus broader memes kept it on the radar. Key metric: sustained 7-day relative strength and elevated daily volume. Short-term outlook: Bullish. Still one of the cleaner meme-infrastructure plays.
6. XRP – ~$1.45–1.50 +45–55% (7d) XRP led the large-cap alt charge with consecutive double-digit days, reclaiming higher levels on solid volume and ranking moves. The broader risk-on tape and continued institutional narrative helped. Key metric: multi-day percentage leadership among top-10 assets and strong relative volume. Short-term outlook: Bullish.
7. PEPE – ~$0.0000041 +54% (7d) The frog refused to stay quiet. Classic meme rotation as liquidity returned and smaller memes heated up. Volume stayed healthy relative to recent ranges. Key metric: consistent weekly relative strength among pure memes. Short-term outlook: Cautious. Momentum is there, but these fade fast without fresh catalysts.
8. STX – ~$0.22 +76–80% (7d) Stacks rode the Bitcoin layer narrative and broader alt strength into one of the cleanest percentage moves of the week. Key metric: strong 7-day performance paired with Bitcoin’s own surge. Short-term outlook: Bullish.
Hidden Gem of the Week
Look at the lower-cap names still under the radar but printing strong relative moves—tokens in the sub-$300–500M range that caught the same privacy/meme/DeFi rotation without the full top-20 spotlight. Several smaller privacy-adjacent and Solana meme names showed double-digit to high-double-digit weekly gains with rising volume. These are the ones that can still 2–3x if the risk-on tape continues, but they’re also the first to get rekt when liquidity dries up.
One to Watch Closely
HYPE. It just made a new all-time high and is sitting in price-discovery territory with elevated open interest. Next week it either continues the grind higher on regulatory and volume narratives… or the post-ATH leverage flush hits hard. Either way, it will move more than most large caps.
This week’s rotation tells a clear story: the market flipped from extreme fear into greed almost overnight, Bitcoin did the heavy lifting, and capital immediately hunted the highest-beta names—privacy coins with real catalysts, synthetic-dollar DeFi, perpetual platforms, and pure degen memes. Risk-on is back, but the speed of the move means pullbacks will be sharp. Stay sharp, size accordingly, and remember none of this is financial advice.
See you next week for more Shiny Coins on Cryptopress.site
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Zcash (ZEC) surged as much as 48% to trade above $800 for the first time since January 2018, hitting a high of $851.
Grayscale filed its fourth amendment on Aug. 18 to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF on NYSE Arca under ticker ZCSH.
A DCG subsidiary is in non-binding talks to contribute approximately 200,000 ZEC, valued at around $163 million.
Futures volume hit roughly $4.55 billion on Friday, with open interest near $1.35 billion.
Zcash market cap reached $13.87 billion, ranking 12th overall and leading privacy tokens.
Zcash (ZEC) jumped nearly 48% over the past day to trade above $800 for the first time since its January 2018 peak, according to CoinDesk data, as progress on a potential spot exchange-traded fund and institutional interest fueled a sharp rally in the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
The token traded as low as $589 and as high as $851 in a 24-hour period, a swing of about 45%, before settling near $800 levels. Its market capitalization climbed to $13.87 billion, placing it 12th among digital assets and ahead of other privacy coins.
Driving the move was Grayscale’s continued push to convert its existing Zcash Trust into a spot ETF. The firm, owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed its fourth amendment to the registration statement on Aug. 18 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to list shares on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH. The filing keeps the process advancing but remains subject to SEC review and does not guarantee approval.
The same filing disclosed that DCG International Investments, another DCG subsidiary, is in non-binding discussions to acquire roughly 200,000 ZEC through the trust, a position worth approximately $163 million at recent prices. As The Block previously reported, the potential contribution would exchange the tokens for shares in the trust if completed.
Derivatives activity amplified the price action. Zcash futures volume reached about $4.55 billion on Friday compared with roughly $553 million in spot trading, while open interest stood near $1.35 billion. Past-24-hour volume totaled $2.24 billion, equivalent to about 16% of the token’s market value, per CoinDesk Data.
Zcash, which shares Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap, proof-of-work consensus and halving schedule while adding shielded transactions for privacy, has drawn “next bitcoin” comparisons on social media. The asset had previously reached $750 in November before a sell-off tied to a vulnerability in its Orchard shielded pool earlier this year; a subsequent upgrade addressed related issues.
While the ETF conversion remains pending regulatory approval and the DCG talks are non-binding, the developments have reignited institutional interest in privacy-oriented assets amid broader market gains, including a concurrent Bitcoin rally linked to U.S. Treasury bond buyback adjustments.
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<ul><li>Zcash (ZEC) surged as much as 48% to trade above <strong>$800</strong> for the first time since January 2018, hitting a high of $851.</li><li>Grayscale filed its fourth amendment on Aug. 18 to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF on NYSE Arca under ticker ZCSH.</li><li>A DCG subsidiary is in non-binding talks to contribute approximately <strong>200,000 ZEC</strong>, valued at around $163 million.</li><li>Futures volume hit roughly <strong>$4.55 billion</strong> on Friday, with open interest near $1.35 billion.</li><li>Zcash market cap reached <strong>$13.87 billion</strong>, ranking 12th overall and leading privacy tokens.</li></ul><p class="has-drop-cap">Zcash (ZEC) jumped nearly <strong>48%</strong> over the past day to trade above <strong>$800</strong> for the first time since its January 2018 peak, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/08/22/zcash-tops-usd800-for-first-time-since-2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CoinDesk</a> data, as progress on a potential spot exchange-traded fund and institutional interest fueled a sharp rally in the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.</p><p>The token traded as low as $589 and as high as $851 in a 24-hour period, a swing of about 45%, before settling near $800 levels. Its market capitalization climbed to <strong>$13.87 billion</strong>, placing it 12th among digital assets and ahead of other privacy coins.</p><p>Driving the move was Grayscale’s continued push to convert its existing Zcash Trust into a spot ETF. The firm, owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed its <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1720265/000119312526361075/zcsh-20260821.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth amendment</a> to the registration statement on Aug. 18 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to list shares on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH. The filing keeps the process advancing but remains subject to SEC review and does not guarantee approval.</p><p>The same filing disclosed that DCG International Investments, another DCG subsidiary, is in non-binding discussions to acquire roughly <strong>200,000 ZEC</strong> through the trust, a position worth approximately $163 million at recent prices. As <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-19-grayscale-zcash-etf-amendment-dcg-discussions-contribute-200000-zec-fund-412232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Block</a> previously reported, the potential contribution would exchange the tokens for shares in the trust if completed.</p><p>Derivatives activity amplified the price action. Zcash futures volume reached about <strong>$4.55 billion</strong> on Friday compared with roughly $553 million in spot trading, while open interest stood near $1.35 billion. Past-24-hour volume totaled $2.24 billion, equivalent to about 16% of the token’s market value, per CoinDesk Data.</p><p>Zcash, which shares Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap, proof-of-work consensus and halving schedule while adding shielded transactions for privacy, has drawn “next bitcoin” comparisons on social media. The asset had previously reached $750 in November before a sell-off tied to a vulnerability in its Orchard shielded pool earlier this year; a subsequent upgrade addressed related issues.</p><p>While the ETF conversion remains pending regulatory approval and the DCG talks are non-binding, the developments have reignited institutional interest in privacy-oriented assets amid broader market gains, including a concurrent Bitcoin rally linked to U.S. Treasury bond buyback adjustments.</p>

Grayscale Investments has submitted amendment #5 for its Grayscale Zcash Trust, edging the digital asset vehicle closer to a potential spot ETF conversion under ticker $ZCSH.
The filing follows a broader industry push by asset managers seeking to transition single-asset cryptocurrency trusts into exchange-traded funds.
Privacy-focused assets like Zcash ($ZEC) face unique regulatory scrutiny, making structural developments closely watched by market participants.
Grayscale Investments has advanced its plans to transition its digital asset products by filing amendment #5 for the Grayscale Zcash Trust, according to regulatory tracking. The updated filing indicates that the asset manager is continuing its dialogue with regulators as it pursues the conversion of the trust into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The movement surrounding the trust, which trades under the ticker $ZCSH, mirrors Grayscale’s broader strategy to convert its suite of single-asset investment vehicles into fully regulated ETFs. While major products tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum have successfully completed this transition, altcoin and privacy-centric trusts face a more complex regulatory pathway.
Zcash ($ZEC), known for its optional privacy features utilizing zero-knowledge proofs, has historically encountered heightened scrutiny from global financial regulators regarding compliance and anti-money laundering frameworks. Despite these headwinds, institutional interest in establishing regulated investment vehicles for alternative layer-1 and privacy networks has persisted.
As detailed in recent SEC filings, asset managers are required to iteratively update their registration statements to address regulatory inquiries, risk disclosures, and operational procedures before a conversion can be approved. Amendment #5 represents the latest administrative milestone in that protracted review process.
Market participants and traders continue to monitor the $ZEC ecosystem for any signals regarding structural approval. While a definitive timeline for the potential conversion remains unconfirmed, successive amendments demonstrate that issuers are actively pressing forward with product updates in anticipation of evolving regulatory stances.
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<ul><li>Grayscale Investments has submitted amendment #5 for its Grayscale Zcash Trust, edging the digital asset vehicle closer to a potential spot ETF conversion under ticker $ZCSH.</li><li>The filing follows a broader industry push by asset managers seeking to transition single-asset cryptocurrency trusts into exchange-traded funds.</li><li>Privacy-focused assets like Zcash ($ZEC ) face unique regulatory scrutiny, making structural developments closely watched by market participants.</li></ul><p><strong>Grayscale Investments</strong> has advanced its plans to transition its digital asset products by filing <strong>amendment #5</strong> for the <strong>Grayscale Zcash Trust</strong>, according to regulatory tracking. The updated filing indicates that the asset manager is continuing its dialogue with regulators as it pursues the conversion of the trust into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF).</p><p>The movement surrounding the trust, which trades under the ticker <strong>$ZCSH</strong>, mirrors Grayscale's broader strategy to convert its suite of single-asset investment vehicles into fully regulated ETFs. While major products tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum have successfully completed this transition, altcoin and privacy-centric trusts face a more complex regulatory pathway.</p><p>Zcash ($ZEC ), known for its optional privacy features utilizing zero-knowledge proofs, has historically encountered heightened scrutiny from global financial regulators regarding compliance and anti-money laundering frameworks. Despite these headwinds, institutional interest in establishing regulated investment vehicles for alternative layer-1 and privacy networks has persisted.</p><p>As detailed in recent <a href="https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEC filings</a>, asset managers are required to iteratively update their registration statements to address regulatory inquiries, risk disclosures, and operational procedures before a conversion can be approved. Amendment #5 represents the latest administrative milestone in that protracted review process.</p><p>Market participants and traders continue to monitor the <strong>$ZEC </strong> ecosystem for any signals regarding structural approval. While a definitive timeline for the potential conversion remains unconfirmed, successive amendments demonstrate that issuers are actively pressing forward with product updates in anticipation of evolving regulatory stances.</p>

Global crypto markets are closely monitoring the upcoming Federal Reserve announcements under the #FOMCWatch banner, with liquidity conditions hanging in the balance.
Traders are aggressively pricing in potential macroeconomic shifts, directly impacting Bitcoin and major altcoin price volatility.
Market analysts emphasize that interest rate trajectories will dictate the strength of risk-on assets heading into the final quarters.
Digital asset markets are holding their breath as the latest #FOMCWatch cycle kicks into high gear, with institutional and retail traders scrutinizing every macroeconomic data point released ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision. As detailed in the CoinDesk markets coverage, shifts in monetary policy expectations continue to act as a primary catalyst for crypto market movements, often triggering sharp repricing across major spot and derivatives desks.
The Federal Open Market Committee’s stance on interest rates remains the central focus for market participants seeking directional clarity. According to recent macroeconomic updates tracked via Watcher Guru on X, shifting probabilities for rate cuts have directly correlated with sudden liquidity contractions and expansions in the broader digital asset ecosystem. When borrowing costs remain elevated for longer periods, risk-on sectors like decentralized finance and layer-1 tokens typically experience localized drawdowns.
Crypto traders and macro strategists utilize the #FOMCWatch tag to aggregate real-time sentiment, inflation prints, and commentary from Fed officials. Analysts note that a dovish pivot could inject substantial liquidity back into digital asset markets, providing the necessary tailwind to test previous resistance levels. Conversely, persistent inflationary pressures that delay monetary easing could introduce downward pressure on leveraged positions.
As the official announcement approaches, order book depth across major centralized exchanges suggests that traders are hedging their portfolios against sudden volatility spikes. Market participants are advised to monitor funding rates and options expiries closely as the macroeconomic landscape evolves.
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