Bitcoin Just Erased More Than $1 Billion in Shorts—But the Real Catalyst Wasn’t Crypto

By Isaac • August 19, 2026 3:07 pm •

Bitcoin ripped from roughly $64,100 to the edge of $70,000 on Wednesday, forcing more than $1 billion in bearish crypto bets out of the market in a single hour.

The eye-popping liquidation number will get most of the attention. The more important part of this move, however, came from outside crypto: a sudden change in how the U.S. Treasury plans to support liquidity in the long end of the government-bond market.

In an official announcement from the U.S. Treasury, the department said it will at least double the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks for nominal securities in the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors. The cap will rise from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation