Bitcoin Climbs Past $80,000 as Wall Street Returns

Bitcoin climbed above $80,000 this week for the first time since May, with renewed demand from institutional investors and improving interest from retail investors, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Aug. 27).

The report attributed Bitcoin’s recovery to a “brighter mood” in speculative markets, a retail appetite for risk that is also driving interest in artificial intelligence investments, and a return of inflows to bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Investors added $2.6 billion to U.S. bitcoin ETFs over the last eight trading sessions, and firmer U.S. demand drove trading to a premium on Coinbase versus Binance for the first time in three months, according to the report.

Lacie Zhang, a research analyst at Bitget wallet, said in the report that the recent trend “suggests institutional allocation through ETFs is returning, while broader U.S. exchange demand is improving but has yet to become decisively strong.”

CNBC reported Wednesday (Aug. 26) that bitcoin’s rebound supports the view of BlackRock Head of Digital Assets Robbie Mitchnick that bitcoin diversifies portfolios and tends to rebound whenever investor sentiment is weak.

The report said bitcoin’s latest rebound came amid a recurrence of concerns over the size of U.S. debt and deficits.

Mitchnick said in the report that in the “last couple of weeks, equities and other asset classes have been pretty challenged … fixed income markets have been choppy, and you’ve seen bitcoin … have a fairly significant rally because of that distinct nature and the way it’s seen as this emerging store of value.”

CoinDesk reported Thursday that the crypto rally began last week and that the largest gainer is Solana, which rose 13.5% over the previous 24 hours and 44% since early last week.

It was reported Aug. 18 that after months of selling bitcoin, large holders had bought about 43,000 of the coins over the previous 60 days. At the time, those coins were worth about $2.75 billion.

The so-called bitcoin whales began buying bitcoin again when the coin began to trade around $60,000.

Over the previous months, the price of bitcoin had dropped by about 50% from its October high. That slump was driven in part by retail traders leaving the market.