Treasury Buybacks Send Bitcoin Price Soaring Above $69,500

The US Treasury's decision to double its buybacks of long-dated government debt has sent shockwaves through the financial markets, causing Bitcoin's price to surge above $69,500 on Wednesday.

This move, which starts on September 9 and runs through November 4, is intended to provide greater liquidity support to longer-dated securities. The Treasury Department said it will raise the maximum size of its operations for 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation.

The announcement brought immediate relief to a bond market battered by rising borrowing costs, with the 30-year Treasury yield falling to about 5.19% from Tuesday's peak of 5.34%. The 10-year yield dropped to 4.647%, and the gap between 2- and 30-year yields narrowed sharply.

Bitcoin climbed from an intraday low near $64,100 to over $69,000 before retracing to around $68,000 as yields retreated and risk assets rallied. Ethereum rose as high as $2,100, breaking above $2,000 for the first time since June.

According to CoinGlass data, more than $400 million in crypto positions were liquidated within one hour, with Bitcoin and Ethereum accounting for most of the losses. Short traders betting against the rally lost about $382 million during the period.