Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has spent 2026 watching everything else rally. This week, it finally joined the party, and then some.
The world's biggest cryptocurrency rose 23.47% over the five sessions through Friday, its strongest week since March 2023. It climbed from roughly $62,800 on Monday to above $77,000 by Friday morning.
Two catalysts came from Washington, and they're more connected than you might think.
On Wednesday, the Treasury said it would at least double its long-dated buyback operations to $4 billion apiece starting Sept. 9. That move pulled the 30-year yield off 5.337%, its highest since 2007. Markets took the buyback as an admission that Washington can no longer tolerate borrowing costs at these levels.
Lower long yields loosen financial conditions, pushing money toward riskier assets like cryptocurrencies. It's a classic risk-on signal, and Bitcoin responded.
The same day, President Donald Trump met with crypto executives at the White House and urged the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act, the stalled bill that would define whether digital assets are securities or commodities. It now faces a procedural vote on Sept. 15.
As the move accelerated, roughly $2.7 billion in crypto short positions were liquidated, adding fuel to the fire. Still, Bitcoin trades about 40% below its October 2025 record, so there's a long way to go before it's back to peak form.
