Bitcoin (BTC) gyrated around $78,000 at Monday’s Wall Street open as US bond yields neared 20-year highs again.

Key points:

• Bitcoin reacts as the US Treasury Secretary comments on bond markets in a mainstream media interview.
• Analysis warns that bonds are “ignoring” policy changes as new 20-year highs loom for the 30-year yield.
• BTC price analysis sees an emerging hidden bearish RSI divergence contributing to month-end weakness.

Bitcoin spikes as Bessent discusses bond yields

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD trading in a narrow range, up around 1% on the day. 

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

After falling into the start of the US trading session, the pair saw a swift rebound as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at further interventions in the US bond market. In an interview with CNBC, Bessent stressed that he had not yet acted to shore up the long end of the yield curve — 10-year and 30-year bonds.

“I haven’t bought anything yet,” he told the network, adding that he was “fine” with yields rebounding after the announcement.

This month, the Treasury announced that it would be at least doubling the size of its debt buyback transactions to $4 billion from September. At the time, yields fell, but on Monday, the 10-year yield was back at its highest levels since January 2025 at 4.76%.

US 10-year bond yield one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The 30-year yield reached 5.269% on the day, six basis points short of its highest levels since January 2007.

“The bond market appears to be completely ignoring the US Treasury,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter responded in a post on X.

US 30-year bond yield one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Earlier, Ray Dalio expressed skepticism at the Treasury’s ability to control bonds, even under the new program. Forecasting a future US debt crisis, he named both Bitcoin and gold as potential hedges.

“As general advice, I suggest diversifying well in asset classes and countries that have strong income statements and balance sheets and are not having great internal political and external geopolitical conflicts, underweighting debt assets like bonds, and overweighting gold and a bit of Bitcoin,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

US stocks, meanwhile, remained red on the day, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index trading around 0.4% lower as tensions over new US-Iran strikes filtered through to markets.

Bitcoin RSI sparks new bearish warning

Ahead of the August monthly candle close, BTC/USD maintained its 50-week exponential moving average (EMA) at $77,269 as support.

Related: Bitcoin bear market ‘over’ as price metric copies 2023 recovery: CryptoQuant CEO

BTC/USD one-hour chart with 50-week EMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Previously, Cointelegraph reported that this level is a key line in the sand for bulls. Month-to-date gains have neared 25% in Bitcoin’s best August performance since 2017.

In a note of caution, trader and analyst Rekt Capital warned of a hidden bearish divergence playing out on daily time frames between price and the relative strength index (RSI). Despite bullish RSI signals on the weekly chart, the latest daily values, he warned, pointed to waning momentum.

“if the Daily RSI continues to make Lower Highs (blue), that’ll contribute to mounting weakness here,” he told X followers alongside an explanatory chart.

Daily RSI measured 70.7 on Monday, still within “overbought” territory.

BTC/USD one-day chart with RSI data. Source: Rekt Capital on X.com

Webull, a self-directed brokerage and trading platform, is widening its Canadian product lineup by adding cryptocurrency trading for retail customers. The expansion arrives as the country’s regulators continue laying groundwork for clearer rules across parts of the digital-asset market.

Webull said Monday that its Canada crypto offering will be powered by Coinbase’s “Crypto-as-a-Service” infrastructure. Under the arrangement, Coinbase is set to provide the underlying trading and custody capabilities that support Webull’s new crypto access in Canada.

Key takeaways

• Webull is launching crypto trading in Canada, expanding beyond stocks, ETFs, and options available to its retail user base.
• The service will run on Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service, with Coinbase handling core trading and custody functions.
• Webull points to rising Canadian interest in crypto, citing Ontario Securities Commission research on ownership growth.
• Regulatory clarity is still developing in Canada, including work on a stablecoin framework that would apply to both domestic and foreign issuers.

Webull adds crypto to its Canadian retail platform

Webull’s Canadian website currently displays 10 cryptocurrencies, including well-known assets such as Bitcoin and Ether, along with Solana. The platform also indicates that additional cryptocurrencies are available beyond the initial list, suggesting a staged rollout or expanding selection after launch.

For investors who already use Webull for traditional markets, the move effectively brings digital assets into the same self-directed ecosystem. That matters because crypto access through mainstream brokerage-style interfaces can lower friction for retail users who prefer established platforms and consolidated account experiences rather than switching between exchanges and wallets.

Coinbase infrastructure sits underneath the offering

Webull did not present its own trading or custody stack for Canada in its announcement. Instead, it said the company’s crypto offering will rely on Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service infrastructure.

In practical terms, this means Coinbase supplies critical back-end services—specifically trading operations and custody—while Webull acts as the front-end platform for Canadian users. This kind of partnership can be attractive for brokerages that want to add new asset classes without building and operating complex custody and trading systems from scratch.

Webull cites Canadian demand and regulator momentum

As a justification for the expansion, Webull pointed to growing crypto adoption in Canada, including findings from Ontario Securities Commission research. According to the OSC, digital asset ownership has risen to 25% this year from 10% in 2023.

The company also highlighted that broader regulatory activity is underway. Canada is working toward more explicit rules for parts of the crypto industry, with attention not only on exchange-like services but also on stablecoins—an area that has become a focal point for regulators globally.

Stablecoin rules remain incomplete, but a framework is coming

While Webull’s immediate product is spot cryptocurrency trading, the regulatory direction in Canada affects how stablecoin-linked products and services may develop over time. The announcement noted that Canada does not yet have comprehensive rules specifically for fiat-backed stablecoins. However, a pathway is taking shape.

The Stablecoin Act, introduced following the 2025 federal budget, is intended to establish requirements for both domestic and foreign stablecoin issuers. In addition to its domestic impact, that “foreign issuer” angle is significant because it can influence whether international stablecoin brands can operate under Canadian standards and what disclosures or operational controls they would need to meet.

Investors watching crypto in Canada will likely view this as an important medium-term signal: platforms and liquidity providers typically want stablecoin arrangements that align with clear legal expectations before expanding product offerings tied to fiat-pegged assets.

Webull’s Canada launch raises the near-term question of how its crypto lineup will evolve—whether the initial 10 assets remain limited or broaden quickly—and whether regulators’ stablecoin framework ultimately accelerates or reshapes the range of digital-asset products available to retail users.

Webull, a self-directed brokerage and trading platform, is expanding its Canadian offering to include cryptocurrencies, adding Canada to a crypto footprint that already includes the United States, Australia and Brazil.

The company announced Monday that its Canadian crypto offering will run on Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service infrastructure, with Coinbase providing the underlying trading and custody services. Webull’s Canadian website currently displays 10 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), while indicating that additional assets are also available.

The addition of crypto broadens Webull’s Canadian offering beyond stocks, exchange-traded funds and options, bringing digital assets alongside the traditional investments already available to its retail clients.

Webull cited growing crypto adoption in Canada as one reason for the expansion, pointing to Ontario Securities Commission research that it says shows digital asset ownership has risen to 25% this year from 10% in 2023. 

Canadian crypto investment is growing as the country’s regulators move to establish clearer rules for the industry, including a federal framework for stablecoins. Canada doesn’t yet have comprehensive rules for fiat-backed stablecoins, but the Stablecoin Act, introduced following the 2025 federal budget, would set requirements for both domestic and foreign issuers.

Related: Canadian crypto ownership increases to 25%: Ontario survey

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Bitcoin’s ability to extend its August rally has come under a fresh test as analysts have pointed to sustained spot ETF demand as a key requirement for overcoming rising expectations of a September Federal Reserve rate hike.

According to Bitfinex analysts in an Aug. 31 market report shared with crypto.news, Bitcoin’s latest advance has relied increasingly on spot demand rather than excessive leverage, leaving the market in a stronger position to absorb selling even as U.S. monetary conditions become less supportive.

According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price was trading around $78,700 at the time of writing, down about 0.4% over the past 24 hours. The asset briefly climbed above $81,000 last week before falling to a low of $76,857 after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh used his Jackson Hole address to signal that interest rates may still need to rise.

The decline interrupted a rally that had carried Bitcoin from below $65,000 in mid-August to above $80,000. As previously covered by crypto.news, Bitcoin gained about 24% during the previous week as Treasury buybacks, ETF demand, and forced short covering helped fuel the recovery.

Bitcoin ETF demand now faces a tougher test

Bitfinex analysts said the derivatives market has not shown the kind of rapid leverage build-up that typically accompanies an overheated rally. Bitcoin open interest stood at $55.6 billion, more than 20% above its level at the start of August, but the increase has been gradual while basis levels have remained relatively low.

“We are in a market driven by spot buying and, notwithstanding large short liquidations, open interest has only gradually increased, while basis has remained relatively low and at healthy levels historically,” the analysts said.

Holding $77,100, which Bitfinex identified as an important lower-timeframe support level, alongside continued spot buying would indicate that the market remains relatively balanced, according to the report.

ETF flows provide another measure of whether that demand can continue.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed about $3.04 billion during nine consecutive positive sessions from Aug. 17 through Aug. 27, according to Bitfinex. Friday then produced the first net outflow in 10 sessions, with investors withdrawing $201.9 million as Bitcoin reversed from above $81,000.

Despite Friday’s redemptions, the funds still finished the week with $924.5 million in net inflows, while inflows across the previous two weeks reached about $2.8 billion.

BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for only $33.4 million of Friday’s withdrawals after collecting roughly $2.3 billion during the preceding nine sessions. ARKB and BITB together recorded $164.6 million in outflows.

Institutional demand has also been absorbing Bitcoin sold by larger holders, Bitfinex said. Whale addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC have reduced their balances by 50,500 BTC since the end of June, while institutional custodial holdings associated with exchanges and ETF platforms increased by 59,100 BTC.

During the latest August advance alone, custodial balances rose by 31,500 BTC, a move the analysts said closely tracked ETF inflows.

“While whales took profits during the rally, institutional demand absorbed that supply, indicating that assets moving into these regulated vehicles may be less prone to sudden liquidation on the basis of short-term macroeconomic news.”

$80K–$83K could test whether real buyers remain

Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx, told crypto.news that part of Bitcoin’s August rally came from Treasury buybacks pushing yields and the dollar lower at the same time that traders had built large short positions.

Ko said the mechanical part of the resulting squeeze has now “largely played out,” leaving spot demand as a more important factor around $80,000.

“Treasury buybacks pushed yields and the dollar lower, and that impulse collided with crowded short positioning to produce the squeeze,” Ko said. “What matters from here is whether spot buyers keep absorbing supply around $80K.”

The Treasury catalyst had already produced a sharp response earlier in August. On Aug. 19, the department announced that it would at least double the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks for 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year nominal coupon securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4.

The change helped compress long-term yields as Bitcoin surged. An Aug. 20 analysis of the buybacks found that BTC jumped 8.2% from an intraday low of $64,100 to $69,500 within 12 hours of the Treasury announcement, while $1.44 billion in short positions were liquidated.

Ko now sees $80,000–$83,000 as more than a technical resistance area because the zone could show whether new investment can replace the buying pressure previously created by forced short covering.

“It is a major supply zone, and the point at which the rally stops being a short squeeze and becomes a test of real capital allocation.”

Ether could provide another signal. Ko said ETH had traded near $2,490 heading into Jackson Hole but subsequently lagged Bitcoin on price. If Treasury yields and the dollar remain elevated while Ether starts outperforming Bitcoin on both price and investment flows, he would view the move as evidence of stronger crypto risk appetite.

Bitfinex also pointed to Ether ETFs as a possible gauge of demand. U.S. spot Ether products took in $815.7 million last week and extended their positive run to 10 sessions, according to the firm. Nearly 12.3% of cumulative Ether ETF inflows since launch arrived during August, while demand adjusted for the relative size of the assets was roughly four times as intense as Bitcoin ETF demand during the past week.

Fed rate hike risk threatens the liquidity support

The pressure on Bitcoin now comes from a less favorable interest-rate outlook.

Warsh’s Jackson Hole remarks pushed the market-implied probability of a September rate increase to about 57%, according to Bitfinex. Ko similarly said CME-implied odds had risen from 39.9% on Aug. 21 to 57% following the speech, while the two-year Treasury yield moved to around 4.31% and the dollar returned toward a two-week high.

Bitfinex analysts said persistent inflation remains one of the main constraints on easier monetary policy. Headline Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation stood at 3.7%, with core inflation at 3.3%, while private domestic demand expanded at a 4.2% annualized pace during the second quarter.

Jeff Mei, chief operating officer of BTSE, told crypto.news that Warsh’s speech had raised the hurdle for Bitcoin because higher interest rates could reduce the amount of liquidity available for crypto assets.

“For a sustained rally, we need a few things to happen. First, ETF demand has to stay strong across all ETF products, and not just BlackRock’s IBIT ETF. Second, we need better inflation data for the Fed to back off and keep rates steady.”

Mei also cautioned that the boost associated with Treasury buybacks could fade quickly.

Earlier in August, Bitcoin broke above $76,000 as ETF inflows accelerated alongside improving U.S. liquidity conditions. Spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $606 million on Aug. 20 alone, extending a run of institutional demand that accompanied the recovery from the mid-August lows.

Bitcoin needs U.S. data to ease the rate pressure

Attention now turns to a run of U.S. economic releases that could alter expectations before the Federal Reserve meets in September.

Ko identified Friday’s August payroll report as the most important immediate event and the final jobs report before the FOMC decision. July payrolls fell by 23,000 against an 80,000 consensus estimate, while May and June were revised lower by a combined 103,000 jobs, according to figures cited by Ko. The unemployment rate currently stands at 4.1%.

Before payrolls, ISM Manufacturing and JOLTS data are due Tuesday, followed by ADP employment figures and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book on Wednesday and ISM Services on Thursday. Bitfinex analysts also identified the August labor-market and inflation releases as the next major tests for rate expectations.

The August inflation report is scheduled for Sept. 11, putting another major data point immediately before the Sept. 15–16 FOMC meeting.

Ko also pointed to the CLARITY Act as a crypto-specific U.S. catalyst, with a Senate procedural vote currently scheduled for Sept. 15. In his view, the vote represents one of the largest asset-specific events on the September calendar, while the Fed meeting will determine the monetary backdrop facing Bitcoin and other risk assets.

For price, Mei sees $87,000 as the next level that would materially strengthen the bullish case after Bitcoin clears the nearer resistance areas.

“If we break the $87k mark and hold, $100K becomes the real target, and we could be looking at a bull market.”

Hyperliquid has faced a potential 10-to-12-month regulatory process to enter the U.S. market even if federal agencies move quickly, according to former SEC senior counsel Ashley Ebersole, after President Donald Trump said regulators were working on a compliant route for the perpetual futures platform.

Ashley Ebersole, co-founder and chief legal officer at tx and a former senior counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, told crypto.news that the main obstacle is not simply securing permission for Hyperliquid to operate in the country. U.S. regulators would first have to establish how offshore-style crypto perpetual futures fit within existing securities and derivatives laws.

President Donald Trump brought the issue into focus on Aug. 19 during a White House meeting with crypto and financial industry executives. Trump said Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.” Contemporary reports did not identify an approval, regulatory structure, or timetable for such a move.

The comments came as the administration pressed Congress to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. As previously covered by crypto.news, Trump used the same Aug. 19 meeting to urge lawmakers to pass the legislation, which would establish clearer boundaries between SEC and CFTC oversight of digital assets.

Hyperliquid would need more than CFTC approval

Ebersole said U.S. law does not currently provide a straightforward route for offering crypto perpetual futures to American retail customers in the same form commonly available on offshore platforms.

The CFTC would probably have primary jurisdiction over perpetual contracts tied to commodities, including crypto assets that are not securities, according to Ebersole. Contracts based on securities, however, could fall under the SEC’s authority as security-based swaps or other securities-linked products.

“The threshold issue is that U.S. law does not currently provide a straightforward regulatory pathway for offering crypto perpetual futures to U.S. retail customers in the form in which they trade offshore,” Ebersole said.

For Hyperliquid, a compliant structure could involve registration requirements covering the trading venue, clearing, and intermediaries. Ebersole said designated contract market, or DCM, and derivatives clearing organization, or DCO, infrastructure could form part of the process, with separate SEC requirements applying where securities are involved.

Registration would address only part of the problem. According to Ebersole, federal agencies would first need to determine whether Congress has already given them sufficient authority over the products and then establish rules under which perpetuals could legally be offered.

“The harder problem is not simply obtaining a registration; it is that the existing U.S. regulatory architecture was not designed around offshore-style perpetuals, so a lot of regulatory ‘building’ would be needed.”

Regulators could use formal rulemaking, exemptive relief, or a combination of both to create such a pathway, Ebersole added.

Some of that regulatory debate is already underway. In July, the Hyperliquid Policy Center and Phantom asked the CFTC to develop rules tailored to onchain markets instead of applying requirements designed for traditional intermediaries. The groups argued that decentralized software developers and non-custodial wallet providers should not automatically face the same registration obligations as conventional financial firms.

SEC and CFTC jurisdiction would follow the underlying asset

Dividing responsibility between the two federal agencies would create another layer of work.

Ebersole compared the issue with the framework established after the Dodd-Frank Act, which divided federal oversight between swaps regulated by the CFTC and security-based swaps overseen by the SEC. In his view, crypto perpetuals could follow a similar principle, with jurisdiction determined by the economic exposure of each contract.

A perpetual based on a security or group of securities would generally involve the SEC, while one tied to a commodity would normally fall under the CFTC’s derivatives authority, he said.

More complicated questions could arise when spot assets and derivatives interact inside the same trading ecosystem. According to Ebersole, such arrangements could create edge cases requiring coordination between both regulators, much as the agencies had to develop detailed jurisdictional boundaries following Dodd-Frank.

The issue has become particularly relevant for equity-linked perpetuals. On Aug. 24, the Hyperliquid Policy Center proposed treating qualifying equity perpetuals as security futures under an existing structure jointly overseen by the SEC and CFTC. The organization said HIP-3 markets had processed more than $480 billion in cumulative notional volume during their first 10 months.

Several days earlier, the Policy Center and trade[XYZ] had also submitted five proposed pillars to the SEC for regulating pre-IPO perpetual contracts. The SEC had published the submission but had not endorsed or approved the proposed products.

A Hyperliquid US pathway could take 10 to 12 months

Even with political support, Ebersole expects the administrative process to take considerably longer than the technical work needed to offer the products.

His 10-to-12-month estimate assumes the SEC and CFTC actively decide to establish a route for perpetuals. Regulators would first have to identify their statutory authority, develop a framework, and prepare any required rules or exemptions.

A formal rulemaking process could then require agencies to publish proposals, collect public comments, review those submissions, adopt final measures, and implement the resulting framework.

“The 10-to-12-month estimate assumes a lengthy procedure phase that’s principally about administrative process rather than technological implementation,” Ebersole said.

A faster process is possible if regulators rely substantially on powers and exemptions already available to them.

“Could that happen in six months? Potentially, particularly if the agencies rely heavily on existing authorities or exemptive mechanisms.”

Ebersole cautioned that the longer estimate already assumes regulators want the process to succeed. Litigation, disagreements between the SEC and CFTC, changing political priorities, or a conclusion that Congress must first pass legislation could push any U.S. launch further out.

U.S. traders already have limited exposure to perpetual products under regulated structures. In June, Kalshi filed with the CFTC to list perpetual futures linked to HYPE after rolling out Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual contracts for U.S. customers.

Access to Hyperliquid itself remains more restricted. Coinbase added more than 290 Hyperliquid-powered perpetual markets to its Base App on Aug. 19, with leverage reaching as high as 50x on supported contracts, but U.S. users were excluded along with users in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Existing law could provide a faster but less certain route

Rather than waiting for Congress, the SEC and CFTC could conclude that their existing statutory powers are sufficient to establish a regulated framework, according to Ebersole. Such an approach could shorten the process, particularly if agencies use exemptions alongside existing derivatives and securities rules.

A legal constraint remains after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which ended the Chevron doctrine that had directed courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous federal statutes.

“An agency cannot create statutory jurisdiction simply by interpreting an ambiguity in its favor,” Ebersole said.

If an SEC or CFTC interpretation were challenged, he said, a court would independently determine whether Congress had actually granted the agency authority over the product. Agency reasoning could still carry persuasive weight, but it would not receive Chevron-style deference simply because the underlying statute was ambiguous.

Congressional action would therefore provide a cleaner legal route, according to Ebersole, because lawmakers could expressly authorize perpetual products, divide responsibility between the SEC and CFTC, and establish the limits of each regulator’s authority.

Legislation carries its own timing problem. Ebersole said the congressional route could take considerably longer and may not result in a law at all.

The question is particularly relevant while the CLARITY Act remains unresolved in Washington. The legislation seeks to establish federal boundaries between digital commodities and securities, with the CFTC receiving additional authority over qualifying digital commodity markets while the SEC retains jurisdiction over securities.

A US perpetuals framework would not be limited to Hyperliquid

Any regulatory route created for Hyperliquid would also have consequences for competing U.S. trading platforms, Ebersole said.

Federal regulators could not realistically establish a lawful framework that applied only to one company. Once the SEC and CFTC set requirements for offering crypto perpetuals, other firms meeting the same regulatory standards would have grounds to seek permission to offer comparable products.

“Whatever pathway regulators create for Hyperliquid cannot realistically be Hyperliquid-specific,” Ebersole said.

Coinbase, Kraken, and other appropriately registered platforms would therefore have a strong basis to pursue similar products if regulators establish a workable U.S. framework, according to Ebersole.

“The larger significance of onshoring Hyperliquid is not simply whether one offshore platform can enter the United States. It is whether regulators are prepared to welcome a major product category that has largely developed outside the U.S. to regulated domestic competition.”