Bitcoin | Crypto

On May 29, the CFTC approved a Bitcoin perpetual contract for a regulated US exchange. Almost three months later, on Aug. 18, the SEC proposed a legal route through which crypto projects could someday raise money from the public under rules written for token networks. That's a pretty unusual order in which Washington is rebuilding […] The post The US approved high-leverage Bitcoin trading while crypto founders remain legally blocked from raising funds appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Hazync’s developer reports millisecond verification for blocks 1 through 1,789, while the full-chain proving campaign remains unfinished. The post Reaching instant 27ms validation on Bitcoin will take 17 GPU years of compute power appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin and crypto staged their strongest rally in months as Treasury intervention, regulatory moves and a historic short squeeze collided, while banks and technology companies pushed deeper into stablecoins.

Riot Platforms entered 2026 with 3,977 BTC pledged against a $200 million Coinbase loan. Bitcoin then fell far enough that the agreement required another 1,825 BTC, taking the collateral balance to 5,802 in February. Those coins still belonged to Riot and sat in a segregated custody account under Coinbase's lien. Riot couldn't deploy them elsewhere […] The post Bitcoin crash forced Riot to pledge 1,825 BTC, but this huge rally may now free up 1,500 BTC appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin enters the weekend within striking distance of $80,000, registering an intraday high at $79,500 on Aug. 21. The move caps the biggest weekly rally in two years, built on a rare combination. A surprise Treasury intervention, roughly $1.6 billion of spot ETF inflows, and billions of dollars in forced short liquidations all landed together. […] The post Bitcoin hits $80,000’s doorstep just as the ETF bid disappears for the weekend appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The public Bitcoin treasury structure is gone, while two 2026 payments carry a narrow seven-day release condition. The post Adam Back’s Bitcoin treasury deal died, but its $15M obligation did not appeared first on CryptoSlate.

July output was worth roughly $1.16 million at Aug. 21 spot prices before unsettled hosting costs, as interest begins on $16 million of seller notes. The post A $22.9 million capital deficit threatens to derail an energy firm’s pivot to off-grid Bitcoin mining appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Gracy Chen says macroeconomic uncertainty could keep Bitcoin within $10,000 to $20,000 of current levels, while US government purchases remain unlikely within the next two years. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen expects Bitcoin to remain broadly around current levels through the end of the year despite its recent surge, citing interest rates and broader macroeconomic conditions as key factors shaping the cryptocurrency’s outlook. Speaking on Cointelegraph’s Trade Secrets podcast, Chen said predicting whether Bitcoin (BTC) will finish the year above or below $70,000 is difficult, pointing to the possibility of higher interest rates as one factor that could pressure prices. Cointelegraph host interviews Bitget CEO Gracy Chen. Source: Trade Secrets Read more

The hedge fund founder with an estimated net worth of $15 billion recommended that investors overweight Bitcoin and gold rather than bonds. The founder of the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund, Ray Dalio, called on investors to put money into gold and “a bit of Bitcoin” in response to a looming debt crisis. In a Friday LinkedIn post, Dalio said having between 10% to 15% of one’s portfolio in gold could help reduce risk. He advocated for gold and Bitcoin (BTC) as assets to be overweight compared to debt assets like bonds, citing risks from “internal political and external geopolitical conflicts.” “My guess, which I suppose will be a bad one, is that [a US debt crisis] will come in three years, give or take two, if the course we’re on is not changed,” said Dalio.  Read more

Bitcoin volatility eased after BTC hit its highest level since mid-May, while gold joined the cryptocurrency in approaching three-month highs. Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated above $77,000 after Friday’s Wall Street open as gold joined the crypto rally to hit 14-week highs. Key points: Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD cooling after reaching its highest levels since May 15, still up nearly 6% on the day. Read more

The approximately $6 million figure stems from a 2017 attempted extortion, and DOJ materials do not allege that HBO paid. The post US expands Iran-linked hacking case to 17 defendants over HBO’s $6 million Bitcoin ransom plot appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin’s rally above $79,000 lifted miners and treasury companies, with Canaan, Strive and Metaplanet posting double-digit gains as crypto stocks surged. Shares of Bitcoin miners and digital asset treasury companies surged toward the end of the week, tracking a broader rally across crypto markets after the US Treasury announced it would double certain long-dated bond buybacks — a move aimed at supporting liquidity in the Treasury market that also helped bolster risk appetite. Bitcoin (BTC) miner Canaan led crypto-related stocks on Friday, rising more than 25%. MARA Holdings edged higher after gaining nearly 16% during Thursday’s session. Strive, which holds more than 20,000 Bitcoin (BTC) on its balance sheet, jumped more than 16% on Friday. Japan-listed Metaplanet, which recently expanded its Bitcoin treasury strategy by acquiring Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise, also gained more than 16%. Read more

Bitcoin rallied as Treasury bond buybacks fueled the “not-QE” trade, while Metaplanet expanded to the US and Cypherpunk made a $33 million Zcash mining bet. Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market got a taste of “not-QE” this week — and liked it. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) jumped more than 23% toward $79,000 and Ether’s price crossed $2,400 after the US Treasury moved to double certain long-dated bond buybacks, adding fuel to an increasingly important question for digital asset markets. If Washington keeps finding new ways to support liquidity without technically embarking on quantitative easing, could Bitcoin and other risk assets become some of the biggest beneficiaries? That question is already shaping business decisions across crypto. Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin heading toward $100,000, Metaplanet is taking its Bitcoin treasury strategy to the US and Cypherpunk Technologies is making a $33 million bet on Zcash mining. Read more

GPU-rental benchmarks may price one layer of AI capacity while HIVE and Riot retain project and financing exposure. The post Bitcoin miners are getting a new AI hedge, but it may protect them from the wrong risk appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick said Bitcoin could move toward its $126,000 all-time high after Oct. 6 as spot Bitcoin ETF inflows recover. Bitcoin may move toward its all-time high of $126,000 before the end of the year, with the recovery potentially accelerating after Oct. 6, according to Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered. Kendrick said in a Friday note shared with Cointelegraph that the latest rally has been driven largely by short liquidations, while inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have also started to recover. He said low open interest could leave room for more investors to return as prices rise. “For the first time this year there is now a risk my end year forecast (of USD100k) is too low,” Kendrick wrote. Read more

Bitcoin surged toward $80,000 on Friday, extending a three-day rally that has liquidated more than $4 billion in bearish bets and pushed the cryptocurrency to a three-month high. Data from CryptoSlate shows Bitcoin climbed as high as $78,449, gaining more than 10% over the past 24 hours before easing to $77,873 as of press time. […] The post Bitcoin is closing in on $80,000 and already destroyed a record $4 billion in short bets appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The BTC price reclaimed its 200-day moving average for the first time in nine months as its rally gained momentum after the US Treasury expanded its bond buybacks. Bitcoin’s latest rally has pushed the cryptocurrency above a key long-term technical indicator for the first time in about nine months, offering a potential signal that its broader downtrend is losing momentum. Charting platform Barchart highlighted on Thursday that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price had crossed above its 200-day moving average for the first time since November 2025, roughly a month after BTC reached an all-time high above $126,000. The 200-day moving average is widely used to gauge longer-term market trends, with moves above the indicator often viewed as a sign of bullish momentum. A sustained break above the level could therefore suggest that Bitcoin’s months-long downtrend is beginning to weaken. Read more

Analysts say the $40 trillion debt milestone could bolster Bitcoin’s long-term case, even as Treasury yields, dollar strength and liquidity remain key near-term drivers. As US federal debt tops $40 trillion for the first time, there is renewed debate over whether mounting government borrowing could strengthen Bitcoin’s case as a scarce, non-sovereign asset. Interest costs have also climbed, surpassing Medicare to become the federal government’s second-largest budget expense behind Social Security in the first 10 months of fiscal 2026, according to Reuters. The debt milestone coincided with a Treasury move to calm a bond selloff that’s pushed long-term yields to their highest levels since 2007. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday the department would double buybacks of 10- to 30-year debt to at least $4 billion per operation, initially pushing yields and the US dollar lower as Bitcoin (BTC) and gold rallied. Read more

Nine public miners generated $341 million from AI and HPC operations in the first half of 2026 after spending more than $5 billion on capital assets. Public Bitcoin miners are spending billions chasing artificial intelligence and high-performance computing revenue, though returns have yet to keep pace, underscoring the massive upfront investment required to diversify beyond Bitcoin mining. In its latest Miner Weekly newsletter, BlocksBridge Consulting reported that a group of 15 Bitcoin miners and AI data-center companies spent a combined $30.7 billion on capital assets in their latest 2026 reporting periods, already 42.6% more than the $21.53 billion they spent throughout 2025. Among Bitcoin miners specifically, the gap between capital spending and AI revenue remains significant. Nine comparable miners spent $5.11 billion on capital assets during the first half of 2026 while generating just $341.2 million in directly reported AI and HPC revenue — a roughly 15-to-1 capex-to-revenue ratio. Read more

Bitcoin saw new multimonth highs above $72,500 even as US stocks cooled amid US threats of “economic warfare” with Iran. Bitcoin (BTC) saw multimonth highs after Thursday’s Wall Street open while stocks dipped and bond yields rebounded on US-Iran war nerves. Key points: Read more