Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin surpassed $79,000 on Friday as mounting U.S. debt fears over $40 trillion boosted alternative assets.
- Over $1.22 billion in short positions were wiped out across crypto markets, aiding Strategy’s profitability.
- Prediction market traders heavily favor bitcoin breaching $80,000 next, with 71% anticipating further gains.
Short Sellers Squeezed as Liquidations Top $1B
Bitcoin breached $79,000 Friday morning, pushing its dollar gains since Aug. 17 past $15,000. The cryptocurrency’s relentless ascent comes as fears over the U.S. debt, which has surpassed $40 trillion, pose a serious threat to the country’s financial well-being. The worries have supercharged the appeal of alternative assets like bitcoin, whose limited supply mechanism validates the argument against a fiat currency system.
Market data shows the cryptocurrency added more than $5,000 in a frantic surge that briefly wiped out unrealized losses for Strategy, the bitcoin-treasury company. As of 5 a.m. EST, bitcoin traded just below its session peak of more than $79,461. The rally, which extended to altcoins, momentarily saw bitcoin’s market capitalization top $1.55 trillion while pushing the crypto economy’s aggregate market cap to $2.65 trillion.
For the third consecutive day, bitcoin’s parabolic surge was particularly brutal on short sellers. Coinglass data shows that approximately $154 million in short bets were wiped out in just one hour and $295 million over four hours. Those wiped-out positions pushed bitcoin’s 24-hour short liquidations to $764 million. For the third day running, total liquidations across the cryptocurrency market breached $1 billion, with short liquidations alone topping $1.22 billion.
While the rally excited many crypto enthusiasts, Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor was likely the most relieved: bitcoin’s surge past $75,000 meant his company’s BTC holdings returned to profit for the first time in nearly three months. According to its latest SEC filing, the company held 840,447 BTC, acquired for $63.36 billion at an average price of $75,385 per bitcoin.
In his latest video on X, Saylor said bitcoin is going up forever, adding, “but 98% of people are prepared to face this reality.” Saylor suggested his company has created “digital credit and pays dividends so people can benefit from bitcoin.”
Elsewhere, debate centered on U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s subsequent remarks on bond buybacks, which economist and government critic Peter Schiff argued was akin to pressing the panic button. Schiff, who contends the U.S. economy is worse off than when former President Joe Biden left office, warned that Bessent’s remarks may have exacerbated the situation.
“Now that the Trump Administration has panicked by announcing a Treasury bailout, investors who hadn’t yet realized there was a problem will get the message and start selling. If Bessent thought we had a bond market problem before, sounding the alarm made the problem much worse,” Schiff wrote on X.
Still, while arguing against Bessent’s intervention, Schiff insisted he will not buy bitcoin because he already owns gold and silver.
Meanwhile, on prediction markets, 71% of users expect bitcoin to breach $80,000, while only 23% project it to drop back to $70,000. This market sentiment is reflected in the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which hit 72 on Friday morning.
