The global cryptocurrency market experienced a significant surge during the third week of August, adding $500 billion to its total valuation and peaking near $2.74 trillion, which marks its highest level since early May. The rally was propelled by a U.S. Treasury bond buyback announcement and White House discussions that reaffirmed the administration's support for the sector.
Bitcoin led the broader market expansion, finishing the week up 22% after nearly breaching $80,000 on August 21. Although it experienced a brief Sunday dip below $76,000, the digital asset quickly rebounded above $77,000. This recovery pushed bitcoin's market capitalization to $1.55 trillion and narrowed its year-to-date losses to approximately 12%, recovering sharply from a nearly 30% drawdown at the beginning of the month.
Major altcoins also participated in the widespread market demand, with most high-cap tokens notching weekly gains exceeding 20% outside of a few exceptions such as TRX, BNB, RAIN, XMR, and LEO:
- Zcash (ZEC): Surged nearly 70% to peak just above $873 from an August 16 price of $490, pushing its market capitalization past $14.5 billion.
- XRP: Rebounded after dipping below $1 earlier in the period, surging near $1.70 on August 22 before easing back to trade above $1.50 for a 51% weekly gain.
- HYPE: Reached a record high of $82.43, fueled in part by comments from President Donald Trump advocating for Hyperliquid's expansion into the U.S., pushing its market cap toward $18 billion.
While the vast majority of tokens advanced, a small subset finished the week in negative territory. WLFI led the minor decliners with a 5% drop, while BEAT and H experienced the market's deepest sell-offs, plunging 63% and 50% respectively.
