Bitcoin’s rally above $80,000 has highlighted the growing integration between digital assets and traditional capital markets, with crypto miners and asset-holding companies posting double-digit gains this week. The advance followed the U.S. Treasury’s decision to double certain long-dated bond buybacks, which helped underpin risk appetite across crypto equities.
Crypto-linked stocks surged alongside Bitcoin, which extended its weekly gain past 23% to trade above $80,000. Ether climbed nearly 30% to exceed $2,500, according to CoinMarketCap data. Among the top performers were miners Canaan, MARA Holdings and Strive, while exchange operators Coinbase and Robinhood also advanced. Support for the sector came as President Trump reiterated calls for Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, a bill aimed at clarifying U.S. crypto market rules, though legislative progress remains stalled.
Bernstein analysts upgraded Circle, citing signs of a renewed growth cycle for its USDC stablecoin. In a Monday note, the firm noted USDC supply rose by roughly $2 billion in seven days, ending a six-month stretch of stagnation or decline. Bernstein maintained an Outperform rating on Circle with a $140 price target, implying about 60% upside. Circle shares have gained about 40% over the past month. Analysts pointed to potential drivers including renewed crypto momentum, regulatory clarity, tokenized capital markets and broader payments adoption, with early demand signals from AI agents. USDC’s share of adjusted transaction volume increased from roughly 40% in 2025 to over 60% so far in 2026, surpassing Tether’s USDt on that measure.
Strategy’s vulnerability lies in capital market access rather than Bitcoin price volatility, according to a Regime Intelligence report. The company holds 840,447 BTC backing $22 billion in debt and preferred claims, with no margin calls tied to Bitcoin’s price. Stress tests indicate Bitcoin would need to fall 96% for its holdings to no longer cover convertible notes. Strategy also holds cash reserves equal to 2.6 times its annual obligations, while its Bitcoin holdings are valued at $66.7 billion against a cost basis of $63.36 billion. The firm has sold BTC four times since May but accumulated 25 times more over the same period and plans to resume purchases.
Solana’s network activity reached a record 4.2 billion onchain transactions in July, preceding a 40% rally that pushed SOL above $100 for the first time since February. Transaction counts rose 13.5% from June and 91% from December, adding roughly 2 billion transactions over that period. Nearly $4 billion worth of real-world assets are now tokenized on Solana, up 11.8% over the past month, according to RWA.xyz data. Across tracked networks, distributed RWAs have surpassed $38 billion.
