Bitcoin’s price reclaimed the $80,000 per unit level on Thursday, after breaking above a key resistance level at $79,000, restoring the coin’s market value to $1.61 trillion and placing it in a position that could qualify it to achieve a gain of more than 20% during August.
## Key points
- Bitcoin regained the $80,000 level on August 28 after breaking through a key resistance level at $79,000.
- Volatility erased $416 million from liquidations in the cryptocurrency market, where short positions suffered losses of $80 million.
- Ray Dalio says that the debt policy pursued by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could steer capital toward alternative safe havens such as Bitcoin.
## Breakthrough of a key resistance level
Bitcoin regained the $80,000 level on Thursday, breaking through a key resistance level at $79,000 that had held up since shortly after the monthly high recorded on Tuesday. This rebound came amid reports that the U.S. Treasury Department is preparing to auction $92 billion in Treasury bills for three months on August 31.
Based on chart data over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin rose gradually from below $77,900 to slightly above $79,000 on Wednesday evening, before reaching a daily peak of $80,808. The price briefly fell below this level due to selling pressure, before buyers pushed it higher starting at 4 a.m. Eastern Time.
In the first wave, Bitcoin briefly touched the $80,500 level before breaking through to reach the highest daily level during the second upswing. As of 12:12 p.m. Eastern Time, the coin was trading above $80,400, posting a gain of about 3% over 24 hours. The reclaiming of the $80,000 level lifted Bitcoin’s market value to $1.61 trillion.
With three days remaining until the end of August, Bitcoin appears on track to close the month with a gain exceeding 20%, a sharp reversal compared with July’s performance, which was nearly flat.
These fluctuations caused the liquidation of leveraged Bitcoin positions totaling $105 million within 24 hours, in which short positions accounted for the largest share of losses—about $80 million. This trend extended to the broader digital-asset market, where liquidations of short positions made up about 70% ($286 million) of total liquidations of $416 million.
## Treasury auction impact
Although the matter has not yet been confirmed, an auction of Treasury bills of this size typically drains short-term liquidity from the market. Market analysts said the net economic impact would depend on the issuance sizes and the level of demand from bidders. Weak demand in the auction could raise short-term yields, temporarily weighing on stocks and digital assets.
On the other hand, a report published by The Economist magazine titled “America Will Regret Bessent’s Adventures in the Bond Market” warned that recent political steps taken by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could seriously undermine the credibility of the U.S. financial system. The report argued that doubling bond buyback limits to artificially suppress long-term yields, alongside directing a heavy share of new debt issuance toward short-term Treasury bills, amounts to a short-term extension of the government’s obligations’ maturity, leaving the United States significantly exposed to future interest-rate spikes and refinancing risks.
The report added that the government debt conversion heavily toward short-term bills threatens to crowd out financial instruments in the private sector, while attempts to curb borrowing costs without addressing the structural deficit would distort market pricing mechanisms.
The report also pointed out that the sudden abandonment of the traditional principle of issuing debt in an “regular and predictable” manner, in favor of a discretionary approach to returns, threatens long-term investors’ confidence in U.S. sovereign debt and the broader U.S. financial system.
While the U.S. Treasury defended its actions, prominent figures such as Ray Dalio argued that these steps effectively reduce the inflation-adjusted return on traditional fixed-income instruments. As a result, capital seeking long-term value-preservation characteristics may shift from sovereign bonds to alternative safe havens such as gold and Bitcoin—both of which have been in an uptrend since the Treasury’s announcement.