Bitcoin Price Rallies to $77,740 as ETF Inflows Surge

Bitcoin rose 7% over the past 24 hours to $77,740, fueled by a massive influx of capital into spot exchange-traded funds and a shift in U.S. Treasury liquidity policy [1]. The move marks the cryptocurrency's strongest weekly performance since 2023, as traders weigh the impact of renewed institutional demand against a shifting macroeconomic backdrop [2].

Liquidity and Institutional Flows

The rally was triggered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Wednesday announcement to at least double the size of its long-dated bond buybacks, a move that lowered yields and reduced the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets [2]. This shift in liquidity provided a tailwind for risk-on assets, coinciding with a surge in Bitcoin ETF participation [2]. Investors poured over $1.6 billion into these vehicles this week, with Thursday alone seeing $606.3 million in inflows, the highest single-day total since May 1 [2, 3].

The price action resulted in the largest liquidation of short positions in history, with Coinglass data showing over $1.1 billion in bets against the cryptocurrency closed on Thursday [2]. Analysts note that this volatility-adjusted move ranks as the fifth-largest since 2018, a signal that historically precedes sustained upward trends [3]. While Bitcoin previously traded below $65,000 throughout June and July, it has now cleared significant overhead resistance, though market participants are watching the $80,000 range as the next major hurdle [2, 3].

Divergence in the Mining Sector

The broader crypto market is showing signs of internal fragmentation, particularly among Bitcoin miners. While Bitcoin gained 7% on Friday, the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) fell 3% [1]. This disconnect highlights a shift in investor sentiment: the market is increasingly repricing miners based on their ability to execute on AI data center contracts rather than their raw Bitcoin production [1].

CleanSpark shares fell 6% on Friday, despite the Bitcoin rally, as investors demand concrete revenue from its Sandersville site rather than relying on construction milestones [1]. Conversely, MARA Holdings remained flat, illustrating that the "Bitcoin proxy" trade is no longer uniform across the sector [1]. The market is now prioritizing companies with confirmed anchor tenants for their power infrastructure, as evidenced by the muted reaction to Riot Platforms' $9.1 billion computing deal with Anthropic earlier this week [1].

What to watch

• Overhead Supply: Monitor the low $80,000 range, identified by analysts as a key wall of supply that Bitcoin must clear to extend the current rally [3].
• Legislative Progress: Watch for the September vote on the Clarity Act, which has been urged by the White House and is a focal point for the digital asset industry [2].
• Sandersville Commercialization: For CleanSpark specifically, the next catalyst is the transition from contracted backlog to actual lease revenue, which will serve as a test for the company's AI-landlord pivot [1].

While prediction markets on Kalshi currently estimate Bitcoin will end the year near $75,000, the asset's recent performance has already forced speculators to revise their forecasts upward from previous expectations of $66,000 [4]. The central question remains whether the current liquidity-driven rally can sustain momentum as the market shifts its focus from macro-driven speculation to individual company execution.