Bitcoin Price Drives Toward $80K as Economist Warns of 'Massive QE'

Market Recovery and Bitcoin Price Swings

Bitcoin nearly tapped $80,000 on Monday as the cryptocurrency market appeared to recover from a weekend slump, which saw several high-cap altcoins back off from multi-month highs. Market data shows that after briefly dipping below $77,000 two hours before midnight, bitcoin rebounded and largely trended just below $77,500 until around 7:30 a.m. EST.

Shortly afterwards, bitcoin’s price echoed last week’s bull run by spiking to just under $79,200 before a quick sell-off pulled it back to $78,200. A secondary surge pushed prices higher, reclaiming $79,000 and reaching a new August peak bitcoin price of $79,989. However, a second wave of profit-taking quickly dragged the cryptocurrency back to $79,200.

Despite this, the bitcoin price action during the 24-hour period, left it with daily gains of approximately 3% and pushed its market capitalization to $1.59 trillion. The latest gains also brought bitcoin’s year-to-date losses below 10% for the first time since mid-May, exciting investors who have been steadfast in their belief that the cryptocurrency will close 2026 in the green.

On the derivatives market, a familiar pattern emerged: Liquidated short positions outpaced liquidated long positions. However, Coinglass data shows the value of short bets wiped out in 24 hours was markedly lower than the hundreds of millions liquidated seen last week. According to the data, liquidated short bets topped $98 million versus $45.3 million in long bets. Overall, cryptocurrency market liquidations topped $396 million, with wiped-out short bets reaching $222 million.

Although last week’s failure to breach $80,000 was tied to profit-taking, bitcoin’s latest surge suggests it could cross that threshold and potentially match its January high before the end of the month.

Analysts point to the U.S. Treasury’s bond buyback plans and subsequent remarks by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinting at even larger buybacks as the main driver of this flight to alternative assets like gold and cryptocurrency. As explained by economist and Trump administration critic Peter Schiff, the Treasury secretary’s “reckless plan” will result in what he has been warning of for a long time.

“This reckless plan will substantially shorten the average maturity of the national debt, increasing our exposure to rising short-term rates and making it even harder for the Fed to hike rates without exploding federal interest expense and budget deficits. It’s a recipe for massive QE and runaway inflation. Got gold?” Schiff wrote on X.

Accelerated currency issuance and the resulting inflationary pressures are breathing new life into bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative, strengthening the case for institutional investors and corporate boards to adopt the cryptocurrency as a strategic reserve asset.

Meanwhile, Bitfinex analysts argue that the rally still needs real spot demand to take over from the short squeeze. They outlined key indicators to watch to confirm the rally.

“The next few weeks carry two clear signals. On the upside, a weekly close above roughly $73,500, the average paid by buyers from the past three to six months, followed by a successful retest, would confirm the recovery. The next area above that sits near $86,500, where buyers from 18 months to two years ago are still waiting to break even,” the analysts explained in their latest report.

“On the downside, a fall back below about $64,500, the average paid by the most recent cohort, would mark the rally as an overshoot on forced buying and put the summer range back in play,” the market strategists added.