According to Fixygen, the standoff between traditional banks and cryptocurrencies is gradually changing in nature: the largest financial institutions are no longer trying to prove that they don’t need blockchain; instead, they are beginning to migrate bank deposits and payments to the very same technological infrastructure on which stablecoins operate.
One of the most significant developments in August was the creation of the BankChain Alliance in the U.S., which brought together banking associations from 39 states. The project aims to create a banking blockchain network by 2027 that will be capable of supporting tokenized deposits, stablecoins, automated settlements, and programmable payments.
In effect, small and regional U.S. banks are trying to develop their own alternative to cryptocurrency payment infrastructure, rather than ceding this market to Circle, Coinbase, and tech companies.
Major banks are moving in the same direction.
On August 4, Wells Fargo announced the launch of tokenized deposits for corporate clients. These funds are bank money recorded on the blockchain and enable round-the-clock settlements, including on weekends. The first phase involves transactions between the U.S. dollar and the British pound, and by 2027, the bank intends to expand its geographic reach and list of currencies.
The fundamental difference between a tokenized deposit and USDC or USDT lies in who the issuer is.
In the case of a traditional stablecoin, the customer holds a digital claim against a specialized issuer. In the case of a tokenized deposit, the customer still holds a bank deposit, but the infrastructure for managing it is blockchain-based.
Therefore, banks are essentially telling the crypto industry: we accept the technology, but we want to keep the money within the banking system.
Payment systems have gone even further.
Visa reported that its annual volume of transactions in stablecoins reached approximately $7 billion, and in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEE) region, the volume of such transactions increased nearly 60-fold over the year. The company is already developing more than 160 card programs linked to stablecoins.
In July, Visa launched a dedicated platform, the Visa Stablecoin Platform, through which banks, fintech companies, and payment providers will be able to work with stablecoins within a unified infrastructure. In August, the company also expanded Visa Direct to include the ability to make payments and provide pre-funding using stablecoins.
At the same time, the use of stablecoins directly by consumers is growing rapidly.
According to an estimate by the payment company RedotPay, cited by Reuters, spending via cards linked to stablecoins could rise to approximately $50 billion per year by 2028. As early as July 2026, the monthly volume of such card payments exceeded $1 billion for the first time.
The most important factor driving changes in the market is regulation in the U.S.
On August 17, the U.S. Department of the Treasury published a new draft rule for implementing the GENIUS Act. Starting January 18, 2027, the issuance of payment stablecoins in the U.S. will generally be permitted only to licensed issuers. Starting in July 2028, U.S. service providers will also face restrictions on offering users stablecoins issued without the appropriate license.
As a result, the market is entering a completely new phase.
Just a few years ago, the question went something like this: Will cryptocurrencies replace banks?
Now the question has changed: Who will control the digital dollar—crypto companies, banks, or payment systems?
This is precisely where one of the major financial competitive battles of the next few years may unfold.
Circle and Tether have created a model of dollar-backed money that can be transferred around the clock and almost instantly. Banks have realized that customers truly want this functionality, but they are unwilling to hand over the deposits—on which the traditional banking model is based—to tech companies.
As a result, the market is gradually moving toward the coexistence of three forms of the digital dollar.
The first is traditional bank money.
The second is tokenized bank deposits, which Wells Fargo and other banks are transferring to the blockchain.
The third is stablecoins, which exist outside the traditional deposit account system but are becoming increasingly integrated into the financial system under new regulatory conditions.
The winner here has not yet been determined. But one conclusion is already clear: the blockchain infrastructure itself is no longer just an experiment in the cryptocurrency sector.
If the largest banks and Visa begin to process payments 24/7 via blockchain, the major technological debate of the past decade will effectively come to an end.
Blockchain hasn’t destroyed banks—banks have begun to embrace blockchain.
Sources: U.S. Treasury, Wells Fargo, Visa, Reuters, publications from August 4–26, 2026.
According to Fixygen, Bitcoin returned above the $80,000 mark in late August, posting one of its strongest weekly rallies in recent months, however, the current movement differs from typical cryptocurrency rallies—a significant portion of the demand is coming through regulated exchange-traded funds, and the U.S. government bond market has become one of the key macroeconomic factors.
On Tuesday, August 25, Bitcoin rose above $80,000 and reached a three-month high. According to Reuters, the leading cryptocurrency has gained about 28% since the beginning of August, which could be its best monthly performance since November 2024.
One of the triggers for the rally was action taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On August 19, the Treasury announced that, starting September 9, it would increase the volume of buyback operations for long-term Treasury bonds to support market liquidity. The decline in yields on long-term securities and the simultaneous weakening of the dollar boosted demand for alternative assets, primarily gold and Bitcoin.
But unlike previous cryptocurrency cycles, this demand is now clearly visible within the traditional financial system.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have shifted from a series of outflows to a steady inflow of capital. According to Farside Investors, the funds saw net inflows of $297.5 million on August 17, $189.3 million on August 18, $517.2 million on August 19, $606.3 million on August 20, and $307.5 million on August 21.
After the weekend, the trend continued: on August 24, the funds attracted another $337.6 million, and on August 25, $314.3 million. Thus, over seven consecutive trading days, net inflows totaled approximately $2.57 billion.
The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust remains the primary recipient of these funds. On August 20 alone, the IBIT received approximately $503 million; on August 24, $208.9 million; and on August 25, another $284.4 million. According to Farside data, the fund’s cumulative net inflow since its launch has already exceeded $62.9 billion.
This strong momentum was further amplified by the closing of short positions. The market was approaching an August reversal after a prolonged decline from the 2025 all-time highs, so a significant portion of traders were bracing for a further drop. The sharp rally forced participants to close out short positions, which added mechanical demand for Bitcoin.
As a result, Bitcoin rose by approximately 23% over the week, while Ethereum gained nearly 29%. After reaching the $80,000 mark, Bitcoin pulled back to the $78,000–$79,000 range, indicating profit-taking following the rapid rally.
In our view, the most interesting development is not the $80,000 mark itself, but the nature of the current demand.
In previous cycles, Bitcoin rose primarily on expectations within the cryptocurrency market itself. Now, it is increasingly becoming part of the same macroeconomic narrative as gold: investors are buying assets whose supply cannot be increased by a decision from a central bank or government.
The difference lies in volatility. While gold remains a conservative safe-haven asset, Bitcoin is effectively becoming a high-risk, highly volatile bet on the weakening of the dollar’s purchasing power.
At the same time, ETFs have made this strategy much more accessible to institutional investors. To increase their exposure to Bitcoin, a fund or asset management firm no longer needs to deal with crypto exchanges or store digital assets on its own—it’s enough to purchase an exchange-traded instrument from BlackRock, Fidelity, or another major asset manager.
That is why capital flows into ETFs are becoming one of the most important indicators of the market’s future direction. If the inflow of several hundred million dollars per day continues, it could provide Bitcoin with fundamental demand even after the short squeeze ends.
If, however, ETFs return to outflows, the current movement risks turning out to be primarily a rapid recovery rally following a sharp decline.
Thus, the near future will show whether Bitcoin has established itself in a new role—not merely as a speculative cryptocurrency, but as an institutional instrument for betting on the dollar, liquidity, and U.S. monetary policy.
According to Fixygen, the British fintech startup Revolut has launched the EURR, a stablecoin pegged to the euro, Bloomberg reports, citing a company statement. The issuer of the EURR is Bridge, a company owned by the American firm Stripe. Bridge will also own and manage the assets backing this stablecoin.
Initially, it will be available to a limited number of Revolut customers in Denmark, Poland, and Portugal, and later this year, the startup plans to expand access to other markets in the European Economic Area (EEA).
EURR will be integrated into the Revolut app and will allow users to exchange euros for cryptocurrency—and vice versa—directly on the blockchain.
The company calls this launch the first step in its stablecoin strategy, which includes the launch of tokens pegged to other currencies as well.
“Revolut started by eliminating hidden fees and barriers to currency exchange,” the company said in a statement. “Now we’re doing the same with cryptocurrency.”
The financial news and analysis platform Finance Magnates, citing official documents, reports that EURR was launched on August 20 and is marketed as Revolut Euro. According to the report, the stablecoin is available in the Revolut retail app and on the Revolut X cryptocurrency exchange. As of Tuesday, only 374 EURR were in circulation, backed by reserves of 374 euros.
Revolut was founded in 2015 in London by Mykola Storonskyi (a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Russian Economic School) and Vladislav Yatsenko. The company serves over 80 million retail and 800,000 business customers worldwide. It operates as a bank in more than 30 countries.
In 2024, Revolut became Europe’s most valuable private tech company, with a valuation of $45 billion, and last year it reaffirmed this status by increasing its valuation to $75 billion.
According to Fixygen, the cryptocurrency market ended the week of August 17–23 with a sharp rally: Bitcoin rose by approximately 23%, Ethereum by more than 30%, and a number of major altcoins showed even stronger gains. The main drivers were an influx of funds into U.S. spot cryptocurrency ETFs, a weaker dollar, shifts in the U.S. Treasury market, and positive regulatory signals from Washington.
As of August 23, Bitcoin was trading at approximately $77,200, compared to about $62,900 at the end of the previous week. On August 21, the price rose to $79,300, marking a three-month high. Thus, BTC posted its best weekly performance in more than two years.
Ethereum rose even faster. ETH climbed from approximately $1,880 to $2,460—an increase of more than 30%. On August 19 alone, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization gained about 17.5%, and on August 21, it rose another 8%.
The rally also spread to altcoins. XRP rose by about 40% or more over the course of the week, Solana by more than 20%, and Chainlink, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin, and a number of other major digital assets also showed significant gains. Thus, this time the growth was not limited to Bitcoin alone.
One of the main factors was a sharp reversal in inflows into U.S. cryptocurrency ETFs. Over the five trading sessions from August 17–21, spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. attracted a combined total of about $2.6 billion, marking their best weekly performance since October 2025.
Bitcoin ETFs accounted for about $1.92 billion, while Ethereum ETFs accounted for about $697 million. Meanwhile, Bitcoin funds recorded net inflows for all five consecutive trading days. Bitcoin ETF trading volume for the week exceeded $22 billion, more than tripling the previous week’s figure.
The market received an additional boost on August 19 following the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to increase the volume of long-term Treasury bond buybacks. This led to a decline in yields on some government securities and a weakening of the dollar, prompting investors to step up purchases of gold and Bitcoin as alternative assets.
According to Reuters, by the end of the week, the dollar had fallen to a three-month low against the euro, which also created a favorable backdrop for cryptocurrencies. During this period, some investors viewed Bitcoin, alongside gold, as part of the so-called “debasement trade”—betting on assets with limited supply amid concerns over U.S. debt and fiscal policy.
The closing of large short positions was also a key factor. Bitcoin’s rapid surge past the $65,000, $70,000, and $75,000 levels forced traders who had bet on a further decline to close their positions en masse. According to various estimates, during the most active phase of the rally, more than $4 billion in short positions were liquidated in the crypto market, which further accelerated the rally.
The regulatory backdrop in the U.S. also proved positive for the sector. On August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new specialized framework for certain cryptoasset transactions and offerings. The SEC notes that the goal of the changes is to adapt the rules to the unique characteristics of digital assets, facilitate capital raising, and at the same time maintain investor protection requirements.
Thus, several favorable factors converged on the market simultaneously over the course of a single week: strong institutional demand driven by ETFs, a weaker dollar, improved liquidity expectations, and a reduction in regulatory uncertainty.
At the same time, the weekend showed that after such rapid growth, investors began to partially lock in profits. After peaking above $79,000, Bitcoin returned to the $76,000–$77,000 range, while Ethereum, after surpassing $2,500, traded around $2,400–$2,500. For now, this looks more like consolidation following a sharp rally than a full-fledged trend reversal.
U.S. monetary policy will be a key test for cryptocurrencies as early as next week. An economic symposium will take place in Jackson Hole on August 27–29, and Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to speak on August 28. The market will be closely watching his assessment of inflation, interest rates, and the situation in the bond market.
For Bitcoin, the immediate key resistance zone remains the $79,000–$80,000 range. Holding above this level could pave the way for a continued recovery following the drop from record highs in 2025. At the same time, after a gain of more than 20% in a single week, the risk of a short-term correction remains high.
For Ethereum, the key will be holding the $2,300–2,400 range and continued inflows into spot ETH ETFs. It is the resilience of institutional demand following the best week for ETFs in 2026 that will determine whether the current rally will evolve into a longer-term uptrend.
Fixygen will continue to monitor inflows into cryptocurrency ETFs, Fed policy, the dollar’s performance, and Bitcoin’s behavior near the $80,000 level, all of which could determine the market’s direction in late August.
Bitcoin (BTC) saw its price surge sharply on Wednesday evening, rising to $69,700, gaining around $4,000 in a short space of time and reaching its highest level in roughly two months, according to the Fixygen website.
After reaching its intraday high, the leading cryptocurrency corrected to around $68,500–$68,700 but remained up about 6% over 24 hours. The intraday low was around $64,100.
The sharp move began after the US Department of the Treasury announced that it would at least double the volume of buyback operations involving long-term US government bonds, to $4 billion or more per transaction.
Following the news, the yield on 30-year US Treasuries fell by around 8 basis points to 5.20%, with a similar decline observed in 10-year securities. At the same time, the US dollar began to weaken, while demand for risk and safe-haven assets increased.
Initially, following the Treasury’s announcement, bitcoin rose to around $64,900, then broke above $65,000, after which the rally sharply accelerated. At its peak, the price reached $69,700.
The surge triggered large-scale liquidations of short positions in the cryptocurrency market. According to CoinGlass data cited by CoinDesk, approximately $1.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency derivatives positions were liquidated in just one hour, between 14:50 and 15:50 UTC, with more than half of the total involving bitcoin trading pairs. Ethereum liquidations amounted to around $430 million.
The gains spread across virtually the entire major cryptocurrency market. Ethereum rose by around 9%, XRP by more than 6%, and Solana by around 6%.
BTC’s technical movement provided an additional factor. Before the current surge, analysts had noted the formation of an “inverse head and shoulders” pattern on the daily chart. According to technical analyst Aksel Kibar, a sustained breakout above the area around $66,600 could open the way for a move toward $76,000.
At the same time, the rapid pace of the current rally increases the likelihood of short-term volatility: a significant part of the move was amplified by the forced closure of short positions, and after reaching $69,700, bitcoin had already retreated by more than $1,000.
Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Its supply is algorithmically limited to 21 million coins, with around 20 million BTC currently in circulation. Cryptocurrency prices are characterized by heightened volatility and can change significantly within a short period.
According to Fixygen, the cryptocurrency market ended last week mostly on an uptrend: Bitcoin rebounded from its early August decline and once again tested the $65,000 mark, while Ethereum and most of the major altcoins also gained ground. The exception among the leading cryptocurrencies was XRP, which lost about 5% over the week.
As of the morning of August 10, Bitcoin was trading at around $65,200 and had risen by approximately 3.7% over the past seven days, according to CoinDesk data. On Monday, the price fell back below $65,000—to around $64,500–$64,700. As of August 7, BTC was up 3.1% for the week, heading toward its first weekly gain in three weeks.
Ethereum was trading around $1,900 at the start of the new week and also ended the week with gains. BNB and Solana were in positive territory, while XRP lagged behind the broader market recovery and lost about 5%.
One of the main supporting factors was the return of institutional demand. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $853.54 million in net inflows last week, marking the strongest weekly result since mid-April. A significant portion of the funds went to BlackRock’s IBIT fund.
The combined net inflow into U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs for the week is estimated at approximately $1.1 billion. Back in early August, the situation was the opposite: Bitcoin ETFs had ended the previous week with a small net outflow, so the return of major buyers became one of the key shifts in the market landscape.
U.S. macroeconomic data provided additional support for cryptocurrencies. Weak U.S. labor market data eased concerns about a possible further increase in the Fed’s interest rates and bolstered demand for risky assets. Following the release of the data, Bitcoin rose to $65,000, while U.S. stock indices finished the week on a strong note.
However, it is still too early to speak of a full-fledged return to a sustained bullish trend. Bitcoin remains near the $62,000–$65,000 range, where it has spent much of the past few weeks. Analysts note that a sustained market recovery would require a break above the $65,000 level.
Another sign of caution is the extremely low realized volatility. Last Saturday, BTC’s trading range was only about $350—the narrowest Saturday range since November 2023. At the same time, the options market continues to see elevated demand for downside protection around the $62,000–$63,000 range, indicating ongoing concerns among market participants.
News of the sale of bitcoins by Strategy, the largest corporate holder, also acted as a restraining factor. The company reported on August 10 that it had sold 1,690 BTC for approximately $108.6 million the previous week, using the proceeds, in part, to repurchase preferred shares. Its holdings have decreased to 840,447 BTC.
Regulatory factors, on the other hand, are likely to take a back seat by the end of August. The U.S. Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act before Congress’s August recess began. Lawmakers are not expected to resume consideration of comprehensive regulations for the digital asset market until at least mid-September.
What Will Drive the Market Through the End of August
The first major test will be U.S. inflation data. The U.S. Consumer Price Index for July is scheduled for release on August 12, the Producer Price Index on August 13, and retail sales data on August 14. Following weak employment data, inflation figures could shape expectations regarding the Fed’s future policy and, consequently, the direction of Bitcoin and other risky assets.
The next key date will be August 19, when the Federal Reserve releases the minutes of the July 28–29 FOMC meeting. Investors will be looking for additional signals in the minutes regarding the extent to which the central bank is concerned about the combination of rising inflation and a softening labor market.
The last week of August will be even more eventful. On August 26, the U.S. will simultaneously release the second estimate of second-quarter GDP and July statistics on personal income and spending, including the PCE price index—one of the Fed’s key inflation benchmarks.
From August 27 to 29, the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank will hold its annual symposium in Jackson Hole. In 2026, the symposium’s theme is directly related to financial markets: “Financial Innovation: Implications for Payments and Policy.” Therefore, statements by central bank leaders may be of particular significance for the cryptocurrency sector as well.
Two main scenarios can be identified for the market through the end of August. Assuming continued capital inflows into ETFs, more moderate inflation in the U.S., and sustained expectations of a neutral or more dovish Fed policy, Bitcoin will have the opportunity to consolidate above $65,000 and attempt to return to July’s levels above $66,000. This is a conclusion based on the current market structure, not a guaranteed price forecast.
The negative scenario is primarily linked to an unexpected acceleration of inflation in the U.S., rising bond yields, and a renewed escalation of geopolitical risks surrounding the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz. In that case, market attention will shift back to the $62,000–$63,000 range, where options traders are currently actively hedging against a decline.
Thus, the crypto market is entering the second half of August in a stronger position than at the beginning of the month: institutional inflows have resumed, Bitcoin has recouped a significant portion of its recent losses, and most of the largest altcoins have turned bullish. However, low volatility and the concentration of several key macroeconomic events in the second half of the month set the stage for a noticeable increase in price fluctuations by the end of August.
