Bitcoin has posted its largest dollar-denominated weekly achieve on report, including $14,264 to shut at $77,387 as Strive CEO Matt Cole predicts the next Bitcoin cycle could be its strongest but.
Abstract
- Bitcoin gained a report $14,264 final week to shut at $77,387, up 22.7%.
- Strive CEO Matt Cole expects the next Bitcoin cycle to be the strongest but as BTC breaks out towards each the greenback and gold.
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $1.92 billion in weekly web inflows, their highest since October 2025.
- Cole expects greenback weak point and rising demand for scarce property to assist Bitcoin over the next 12 to 18 months.
Bitcoin has gained roughly 22.7% over seven days, in keeping with crypto.information price data, with the rally accelerating after the U.S. Treasury Division expanded its authorities bond buyback program and spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their strongest weekly inflows since October 2025.
Cole, chairman and CEO of Bitcoin treasury firm Strive, mentioned Bitcoin’s current efficiency towards each the U.S. greenback and gold has strengthened his view that the cryptocurrency is getting into a brand new cycle backed by macro circumstances it has not skilled earlier than.
“Bitcoin priced in gold is reinforcing my view that the next Bitcoin cycle will be the strongest we’ve got ever seen,” Cole wrote in an X submit.
His forecast follows a pointy change in market sentiment. The Crypto Worry & Greed Index climbed to 78, placing it near the “excessive greed” class and at its highest stage since December 2024.
Bitcoin ETF inflows add to renewed demand
Institutional demand returned alongside the worth restoration, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recording $1.92 billion in whole web inflows in the course of the buying and selling week ended Aug. 21, in keeping with SoSoValue knowledge.
The weekly whole was the best since October 2025, when Bitcoin was nonetheless buying and selling across the peak of its earlier bull cycle.
Bitcoin’s newest transfer started after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent introduced on Aug. 19 that the Treasury would improve the utmost measurement of its liquidity-support bond buybacks for longer-dated securities from $2 billion to not less than $4 billion per operation.
The expanded program, overlaying components of the 10-to-30-year maturity vary, is scheduled to start in September. Lengthy-term Treasury yields initially fell following the announcement, whereas the greenback weakened and Bitcoin, gold and equities moved greater.
For Cole, greenback weak point varieties one a part of his longer-term Bitcoin forecast. He expects the U.S. greenback to enter a sustained interval of weak point and argues that Bitcoin has by no means operated by way of such a macro atmosphere.
A second issue comes from what he described as a “rising hunt for shortage in an AI-driven world of abundance.”
As synthetic intelligence makes intelligence, software program and different capabilities cheaper and simpler to breed, Cole expects traders to put a better premium on property whose provide can not be simply expanded. He positioned Bitcoin alongside gold and silver inside that class.
“Capital will more and more place a premium on types of shortage that can’t be manufactured away,” Cole mentioned.
Bitcoin-gold breakout strengthens Cole’s cycle name
Bitcoin’s efficiency towards gold varieties one other a part of Cole’s argument. The Bitcoin-to-gold ratio has risen to 16.73 ounces of gold per Bitcoin, its highest stage since Might, in keeping with Longtermtrends knowledge cited by The Block.
Cole mentioned the ratio has beforehand supplied an earlier sign of modifications in Bitcoin’s market cycle than its greenback worth.
Bitcoin peaked towards gold in December 2024, virtually a 12 months earlier than its dollar-denominated peak in October 2025, in keeping with his evaluation. Whereas BTC continued setting new highs towards the greenback throughout that interval, its relative efficiency towards gold had already weakened.
An identical sequence occurred across the newest lows. Cole mentioned Bitcoin bottomed towards gold in February 2026, about 5 months earlier than BTC reached its dollar-denominated backside in July.
“What makes this week notably fascinating is that Bitcoin has now damaged out towards each the greenback and gold. The breakout has been explosive,” he mentioned.
Cole expects relative efficiency to play an necessary position in deciding the place new capital enters the shortage commerce. If Bitcoin continues outperforming gold whereas funding into scarce property will increase, he believes BTC could take a bigger portion of these flows.
“When Bitcoin is the quickest horse, it should entice a disproportionate share of that capital,” he added.
Bitcoin’s store-of-value position has additionally remained a part of institutional analysis regardless of weaker circumstances earlier this 12 months. In June, Bernstein said Bitcoin had attracted roughly $12 billion in mixed ETF and company treasury inflows throughout 2026, at the same time as spot ETF traders had withdrawn a web $2.6 billion on the time.
Bernstein attributed a lot of that demand to company treasury consumers and mentioned institutional possession continued to assist Bitcoin’s long-term store-of-value case.
Strive has stored including Bitcoin in the course of the downturn
Cole’s bullish forecast comes after Strive continued accumulating Bitcoin whereas costs had been below strain earlier this 12 months.
As crypto.information previously reported in June, Strive bought 2,500 BTC between Might 23 and June 1 for roughly $185.2 million, paying a mean of about $74,092 per coin.
The acquisition lifted its holdings to 19,000 BTC on the time, whereas money and money equivalents elevated to $137.3 million from $93.3 million. The corporate additionally reported no short-term or long-term debt.
Later that month, Strive added another 759 BTC for roughly $50 million, elevating its holdings to 19,864 BTC. The cash had been bought between June 15 and June 21 at a mean worth of roughly $65,850, together with charges and bills.
Cole mentioned in his newest submit that Strive continued shopping for Bitcoin in the course of the bear market, together with purchases made virtually each week in the course of the months earlier than the most recent breakout.
The corporate has structured its stability sheet round what it calls Bitcoin amplification, searching for to extend Bitcoin publicity per share whereas avoiding debt, margin necessities and financing preparations that could set off pressured liquidations.
Earlier in June, Strive expanded its fundraising plans by $4.2 billion by way of proposed will increase to its ASST and SATA at-the-market applications, with $2.1 billion allotted to every program for added capital capability.
Cole mentioned the corporate considers being too conservative a possible danger if Bitcoin performs as anticipated, arguing that ready for future enterprise money flows to buy BTC could end in buying fewer cash at greater costs.
Cole expects dips to draw aggressive shopping for
Regardless of his longer-term forecast, Cole acknowledged that Bitcoin could retrace after its fast weekly advance.
“A significant retracement from right here wouldn’t shock me, however it might not occur in any respect,” he mentioned.
If a pullback develops, Cole expects consumers to enter aggressively and mentioned his conviction that Bitcoin’s bear market has ended stays “very sturdy.”
His outlook covers the next 12 to 18 months whereas extending the underlying shortage thesis over a number of years. Cole expects a weaker greenback, continued financial debasement and demand for property with mounted or difficult-to-expand provides to direct extra capital towards scarce financial property.
Strive’s CEO mentioned Bitcoin’s mixture of absolute shortage, world liquidity, portability and around-the-clock settlement offers it traits that differ from gold, which has 1000’s of years of financial historical past.
“That setup has me extra bullish on Bitcoin right this moment than I’ve ever been,” Cole mentioned.
