After a sluggish start in August, the cryptocurrency market surged sharply in the third week of the month, fueled by the announcement of a U.S. Treasury bond buyback and a White House meeting that reaffirmed the Trump administration's support for the sector. Led by Bitcoin, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies rose by $500 billion and peaked near the $2.74 trillion mark – the highest level since early May.
Bitcoin retained most of the momentum gained mid-week, despite a brief dip below $76,000 on Sunday, quickly recovering above $77,000. Market data showed the digital asset ended the week with a 22% gain after nearly surpassing the $80,000 mark on August 21. This rise boosted Bitcoin's market capitalization to $1.55 trillion and reduced its year-to-date losses to approximately 12% – a sharp recovery from a nearly 30% drop at the start of the month.
While Bitcoin served as the anchor for the overall market rally, Zcash displayed the best weekly performance, soaring nearly 70% and peaking just above $873 after trading around $490 on August 16. The surge of this privacy-focused cryptocurrency propelled its market capitalization above $14.5 billion – almost double that of its main competitor, Monero. $XRP also showed significant growth, joining the broader altcoin rally.
Meanwhile, after falling below the $1 mark for the first time since mid-November 2024, $XRP joined the overall market recovery and then climbed to around $1.70 on August 22. Despite a slight pullback to above $1.50, the token maintained a weekly gain of 51%, making it the most successful major altcoin after ZEC.
$HYPE largely capitalized on the overall market momentum, rising to a record high of $82.43 on Saturday. The surge was partly driven by comments from President Donald Trump expressing support for Hyperliquid's expansion in the United States. This landmark jump pushed the market capitalization of $HYPE to $18 billion – a staggering rise for a token that traded at just $25 at the beginning of the year.
With a few exceptions – including TRX, BNB, RAIN, XMR, and LEO – most large-cap altcoins showed weekly gains exceeding 20%, highlighting how the U.S. Treasury Department's announcement reignited investor interest. Overall, only a small fraction of tokens ended the week in negative territory. WLFI led the list of tokens with minor losses, down 5%, while BEAT and H experienced the steepest market plunges, collapsing 63% and 50% respectively.
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