The global cryptocurrency market gained $500bn in the third week of August, reaching almost $2.74tn – its highest level since early May – after a U.S. Treasury bond buyback announcement and supportive discussions at the White House under the Trump administration.
The rally followed a slow start to the month and was led by bitcoin, which recovered strongly despite a brief fall below $76,000 on Sunday. The digital asset quickly returned above $77,000 and ended the week up 22%, having come close to $80,000 on 21 August.
Bitcoin’s rise lifted its market capitalisation to $1.55tn and reduced its losses for the year to about 12%. That represented a significant recovery from the near-30% decline recorded at the beginning of August.
The wider market rally was supported by strong performances across a number of major and smaller tokens. Zcash recorded the biggest weekly increase, climbing by almost 70% to reach a peak slightly above $873. It had been trading at $490 on 16 August.
The surge took Zcash’s market capitalisation beyond $14.5bn, placing it at nearly twice the size of its main rival, Monero.
XRP was also among the leading performers. The token had fallen below $1, its first move under that level since the middle of November 2024, before joining the broader recovery. It then rose to almost $1.70 in the early hours of 22 August.
Although XRP later eased back to trade above $1.50, it retained a 51% weekly gain. That made it the best-performing major altcoin behind Zcash.
HYPE also benefited heavily from the market-wide surge, reaching a record $82.43 on Saturday. The move was helped in part by comments from President Donald Trump backing Hyperliquid’s expansion into the United States.
HYPE’s rise pushed its market capitalisation towards $18bn. The scale of the increase was particularly notable because the token had started the year trading at only $25.
Most high-cap altcoins also finished the week higher. With the exceptions of TRX, BNB, RAIN, XMR and LEO, the majority recorded gains of more than 20%, suggesting the U.S. Treasury announcement had helped renew investor interest across the sector.
Only a small group of tokens ended the week lower. WLFI was the biggest of the minor decliners, falling 5%, while BEAT and H recorded the steepest losses across the market, dropping 63% and 50% respectively.
Grayscale said bitcoin’s sharp weekly rise could represent a turning point after what it described as a relatively shallow bear market. Historical cycle comparisons…
