Last night was a landmark one for the crypto market. Bitcoin made a sharp leap from $64,000 to nearly $70,000, then settled around $69,300. Over the day, the leading cryptocurrency rose by an impressive 8.09%. This move triggered a real cascade of liquidations — over 24 hours, positions of 170,195 traders were forcibly closed for a total of $2.99 billion. The main blow fell on short positions: $2.74 billion against a modest $255.77 million in longs. The market harshly punished the bears who had bet on further declines.
Altcoins riding the wave of growth
Ether (ETH) showed even more impressive dynamics, gaining 17.42% over the day. Overnight, quotes surged from $1,900 to $2,280, and at the time of analysis, the asset is trading near $2,241. Among the top 20 by market cap, the leaders were Hyperliquid (HYPE) with a rise of 22.25%, Solana (SOL) — up 10.53%, and XRP, which added 10.41%. In the top 100, the best result was shown by Lighter (LIT) — a gain of 24.12%. Notably, only a few tokens went into the red: Stable (STABLE) fell by 3.84%, and Monero (XMR) — by just 0.16%.
Such a rally is also backed by institutional interest. Spot bitcoin ETFs attracted $517.19 million in a day, and Ethereum products — $189.15 million. This is a clear signal that major players are returning to the market, viewing current levels as an attractive entry point.
Overnight events: regulation and AI
While traders watched the charts, several important events occurred. BitGo became the first foreign crypto firm to receive a VASP license in South Korea. Its local subsidiary was approved by the FIU financial intelligence unit, allowing BitGo Korea to provide custody and transfer services for digital assets to institutional clients. This is a precedent — previously, foreigners entered the Korean market only by purchasing local licensed companies.
The OKX crypto exchange restricted employees in Hong Kong from accessing Anthropic's AI model Claude. The reason was a temporary block of a corporate account in early August. OKX admitted that some previous requests may have violated Anthropic's regional rules, which prohibit the use of Claude in mainland China and Hong Kong. The exchange spends between $6 and $8 million monthly on AI models, so the issue of access to advanced tools is critically important for it.
Finally, the minutes of the July Fed meeting confirmed: inflation remains above the 2% target, and risks are tilted to the upside. Several committee members advocated for a 0.25 percentage point rate hike, and the regulator separately warned of risks to financial stability due to high valuations and growing leverage around AI. A reassessment of the prospects for this sector could trigger a broader decline in asset prices.
My view: The overnight rally is a classic short-squeeze scenario against the backdrop of macroeconomic news. However, the sustainability of the growth will depend on whether bitcoin can hold above $70,000. If the Fed continues to tighten its rhetoric, we may see a correction, and then current levels would become an excellent opportunity to enter a long position for the medium term.