Bitcoin surges past $77,000 as Trump pushes Clarity Act, triggering $2.7 billion in short liquidations

Bitcoin surged past $77,000 following a dual catalyst: the U.S. Treasury's surprise move to double long-term bond buybacks, which lowered yields, and President Donald Trump's aggressive push for Congress to pass the crypto-friendly Clarity Act. This sudden rally triggered a massive short squeeze, liquidating $2.7 billion in bearish crypto positions. The surge also restored profitability to Michael Saylor's Strategy, turning a $13 billion July paper loss into a $1.4 billion unrealized profit.

Bitcoin price rally to $77,000

• ▪Bitcoin rose above $77,000 on Friday, August 21, 2026, marking a sharp recovery after dropping to below $60,000 at the end of June 2026.
• ▪Bitcoin's price surged nearly 23% over five consecutive days leading up to August 21, 2026, after spending much of the summer trading in the low-to-mid $60,000 range.

Treasury bond buyback announcement

• ▪The U.S. Treasury Department's buyback announcement drove a decline in long-end yields and sent the U.S. dollar lower, prompting investors to shift capital into alternative assets like gold and Bitcoin.
• ▪The U.S. Treasury Department's buyback expansion was designed to calm bond markets after a sustained sell-off pushed the 30-year Treasury yield to its highest level since 2007.
• ▪The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, that it would at least double the size of its planned liquidity support buyback operations for longer-term government debt.

Trump Clarity Act push

• ▪President Donald Trump hosted cryptocurrency executives at the White House on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, and urged Congress to pass a fair version of the Clarity Act before the end of the year.
• ▪Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig directed staff to prepare crypto market structure rules in case Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act.
• ▪The Clarity Act has stalled in the U.S. Senate due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over ethics provisions that would prevent public officials from personally profiting from cryptocurrency.

Short liquidations totaling $2.7 billion

• ▪The rapid rise in Bitcoin's price triggered a massive short squeeze, liquidating a record $2.7 billion in bearish cryptocurrency positions within a 24-hour period.
• ▪According to CoinGlass data, more than $1 billion in Bitcoin short positions were liquidated in about an hour during the initial reversal on Wednesday, August 19, 2026.

Strategy unrealized gains

• ▪Michael Saylor's Bitcoin treasury company Strategy returned to profitability, sitting on approximately $1.4 billion in unrealized gains on its holdings of 840,447 BTC as of August 21, 2026.
• ▪Strategy's return to profitability marks a sharp reversal from July 2026, when Bitcoin fell to roughly $58,000 and left Strategy's position approximately $13 billion underwater.
• ▪Strategy repurchased approximately $347 million of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC, over a four-week period, funded in part by selling 6,948 BTC since May 2026.