RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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After a months-long slump, bitcoin appears to be on the rise again and it's thanks in part to President Donald Trump and his crypto-friendly admisntration.
Bitcoin climbed above $81,000 in early trading Tuesday, reaching its highest level since May, according to Reuters . Its price has since slipped back to around $79,000.
That's still well below bitcoin's record high of roughly $126,000 set last October. But things appear to be turning around for the cryptocurrency and fast. Bitcoin rallied more than 20% over three days last week, its biggest three-day gain since 2023, CNBC reports . It's now up 23% so far in August.
The rally comes after a pair of conveniently timed moves by the Trump administration.
First, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced last week that the government would significantly increase its buybacks of long-dated Treasury bonds, The department will at least double the maximum size of certain buyback operations to $4 billion, starting in September.
The news could increase bond prices while pushing down long-term bond yields, which is important because high treasury yields can have major impacts accross the economy like higher mortgage rates and other borrowing costs.
But this type of intervention also raises concerns about currency “debasement," the idea that government actions could erode the dollar’s value over time.
Those concerns have already sent investors looking for alternative investments like gold and Bitcoin.
Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, wrote in an analyst note last week that this type of news is “exactly the type of thing bitcoin loves.”
He added that Bitcoin's decentralized nature was designed to give investors a way to avoid this type of government intervention, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Trump's meeting last week with prominent crypto leaders, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, gave bitcoin another boost.
During the White House meeting, Trump urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, an industry-backed bill that would create a clearer regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and establish which federal agencies oversee different digital assets.
The bill has stalled in the Senate, where some lawmakers have said they won't support it without restrictions preventing elected officials from selling digtial currencies.
Trump described the bill during the meeting as a "very, very powerful structured legislation, which will keep us ahead of China.”
All of this is happening against the backdrop of Trump's own financial ties to crypto.
Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income last year from his family's crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP meme coin.
Last week, the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted a World Liberty affiliate preliminary approval for a limited national bank charter.
The charter would allow World Liberty to issue and manage its USD1 stablecoin on its own, rather than paying BitGo to do so as it does now, according to The New York Times.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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