Bitcoin Surges Past $81,000, Lifting Related Stocks

Bitcoin surged on Thursday, while related equities experienced even faster gains as a multi-week rally regained momentum.

During Thursday morning trading in New York, the leading cryptocurrency climbed as high as $81,282, marking a gain of nearly 3% across a 24-hour window.

Over the trailing 30 days, bitcoin’s valuation has jumped more than 23%, fueled by favorable regulatory developments and U.S. Treasury Department debt buyback announcements.

Meanwhile, shares of prominent cryptocurrency companies advanced at an accelerated pace. Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) traded upward by more than 13% on Thursday, having restarted its bitcoin purchases on Monday following a 10-week hiatus to reorganize its cash balance sheet.

Coinbase, the leading U.S. crypto exchange, also experienced significant equity gains, with Nasdaq-listed COIN rising 11% over the same timeframe.

Additional upside was observed across the bitcoin mining sector, where major publicly traded entities—including Nasdaq-listed firms HIVE Digital, MARA, and CleanSpark—all posted green numbers on Thursday.

HIVE Digital front-ran the sector with a 13% increase, closely followed by MARA Holdings, which gained upwards of 10% for the day.

Clean energy-focused miner CleanSpark rose 9%, while IREN—which is gradually transitioning away from mining to prioritize AI-compute workloads—saw a 4% bump.

Bitcoin experienced an exceptional performance throughout August, marking its third-best August in history, triggered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s revelation that it would more than double government debt repurchases.

That policy initiative, designed to calm spiking yields not observed in roughly two decades, weakened the U.S. dollar while providing a tailwind for non-yielding assets such as gold and bitcoin.

Shortly thereafter, President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to pass the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act, a piece of digital asset legislation heavily desired by the industry.

Consequently, investors flooded back into bitcoin exchange-traded funds, injecting more than $2.8 billion into these investment products—marking the highest total since last October, when the token reached a new all-time high.

For much of the year, bitcoin traded under $80,000 per coin, spending June and July primarily below $65,000. After setting a record peak of $126,080 in October, the asset currently trades nearly 40% below that milestone.

FAQ

How high did the price of Bitcoin go on Thursday?
Bitcoin reached as high as $81,282 on Thursday morning in New York.

Which cryptocurrency-related stocks saw the biggest gains?
Strategy (MSTR) and HIVE Digital led the sector with 13% jumps on Thursday.

What caused Bitcoin’s strong performance in August?
The U.S. Treasury Department announced it would more than double the size of its government debt repurchases.

How much did investors pour into Bitcoin ETFs?
Investors contributed over $2.8 billion into bitcoin exchange-traded funds.