Bitcoin, Ethereum surge 20% as Starkiller Capital calls cycle bottom

Bitcoin rose 20 percent this week to $74,806 as Ethereum gained a similar amount after the US Treasury expanded bond buybacks.

Quantitative investment firm Starkiller Capital on Friday said the crypto cycle has bottomed, calling Bitcoin and Ethereum "the clearest end-of-cycle setup" it has seen.

The rally began Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would double its bond buyback program, with single long-term bond buyback operations potentially exceeding $4 billion. Bitcoin climbed as high as $75,740 before easing to $74,806.41 at 8:28am UAE time, up nearly 8 percent over 24 hours, according to Coinbase data. The move triggered roughly $1.4 billion in short liquidations within four hours. Ethereum surged nearly 20 percent in a single day to above $2,250, with its exchange wallet balance at around 12 million tokens on Aug. 20, far below last year's peak of 17 million, according to Coinglass.

The declaration from Starkiller Capital could reinforce bullish sentiment and attract additional institutional and retail capital, potentially driving further momentum across the broader altcoin market. However, the Federal Reserve signaled no rate cuts in its latest meeting minutes, and ETH faces technical resistance at $2,300 — the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement level — with the next resistance at $2,800.

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, said the US administration's push to create a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets could become a model for other emerging markets overseeing their own crypto industries. Over the next few weeks, the market will likely adopt a wait-and-see stance to determine whether political intentions turn into legislative progress. If the Clarity Act advances, it could lift investor sentiment and trigger a wider recovery in digital assets, he said.

Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, offered a different view, arguing that Bitcoin's price response is not tied to the Clarity Act. Instead, he pointed to the Treasury's actions as the key driver, saying they have revived concerns about fiscal dominance.

President Donald Trump met with executives from Coinbase Global and Payward at a White House event and urged the Senate to advance a "fair version" of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill stalled over ethics rules. The SEC also established registration exemption and safe harbor mechanisms through the Crypto Asset Regulations.

Solana rose over 10 percent to around $84.50, while XRP gained 10 percent to $1.09, restoring the psychologically important $1 level. Hyperliquid's HYPE jumped more than 19 percent to nearly $70, extending its weekly advance to 24 percent. Dogecoin advanced almost 8 percent to just below $0.075. BNB increased 3.5 percent to approximately $626, while Tron remained nearly unchanged around $0.33.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.