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By August 20th, the cryptocurrency market overall had grown by double-digit percentages within 24 hours. Although there were no changes in the regulatory sphere or other market areas, the rally was accompanied by two notable events: a meeting of the heads of crypto companies and US authorities at the White House, and the US national debt surpassing $40 trillion.
Updated data from the US Treasury showed that the American national debt exceeded a record $40.05 trillion with an increasing growth rate.
In less than a decade, the US government's debt obligations have more than doubled: from $20 trillion at the time of President Donald Trump's first inauguration in January 2017. Approximately one-third of this growth occurred during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $40 trillion milestone was reached against the backdrop of government measures to lower long-term bond yields: the US Treasury announced a doubling of the volume of buybacks for long-term 10-30 year government bonds after the yield on 30-year bonds rose to its highest level since 2007.
It is important to understand here the role of high credit rates in the US, which are controlled by the Federal Reserve System (FRS). High credit rates, which have been held above 3% per annum since late 2022, increase the burden on the American budget due to larger financial obligations.
Regarding stress in the government bond market, when asked whether Americans should be worried about the volatility of these securities' prices, Trump replied: "I don't think so at all. I think we are a very strong country, and we continue to support these absurd interest rates — they are absurd."
Meeting at the White House
After the news about the government bond buyback, around 17:00 Moscow time on August 19, the cryptocurrency market showed a rapid surge. Within a few hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum soared 6-8% above $69K and $2.1K. And by 12:30 Moscow time on August 20, the cryptocurrencies were trading above $72K and around $2.3K respectively. Both coins renewed record levels for the summer of 2026.
The dynamics of cryptocurrencies essentially mirrored the course of gold, which soared by almost 5% in 24 hours. At the same time, prices of US stocks showed a slight decline of up to 1% in the NASDAQ and S&P500 indices.
Also on August 19, a meeting between Donald Trump and heads of departments and major crypto companies was taking place at the White House. The meeting was attended by the heads of the main US market regulators: Michael Selig from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Paul Atkins from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Also present were representatives of major traditional crypto companies: Coinbase, Ripple, Nasdaq, Robinhood, Kraken, Chainlink, Gemini, a16z crypto.
At the meeting, Trump reported that the issue of "bringing Hyperliquid to the US market" is being considered — a cryptocurrency exchange that operates outside the country and is the largest in the perpetual futures (perps) trading sector. Against this backdrop, the exchange's native token HYPE skyrocketed by more than 20%, although it had not shown active growth before.
Trump stated that the US Congress needs to "take the next step" by approving the bill on the cryptocurrency market structure, the CLARITY Act, the decision on which has been postponed until autumn. He also answered a question about the government's Bitcoin accumulation plans: "Of course, we've talked about it. It would take huge pressure off the dollar. That was very, very useful for the dollar. And if you come with recommendations, I will certainly listen."
The accumulation topic has been discussed since early 2025, with a corresponding executive order signed to create a state Bitcoin reserve. However, no data or actions have been observed for more than a year.
