Bitcoin Blasts Past $68,000 After US Treasury Doubles Debt Buybacks

Bitcoin blew past $68,000 on Wednesday, jumping nearly 3% over a 24-hour period after news dropped that the U.S. Treasury planned to more than double the size of its government debt repurchases. 

The price of Bitcoin was recently at $68,473 at 10.30am in New York after briefly touching $68,982. The sharp jump came as yields dropped. 

Over the past week, the biggest and oldest cryptocurrency is up over 3%. Bitcoin had recently been flat over a 30-day period but is now also up by close to 3%. 

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it will more than double the size of its government debt repurchases due to fixed income markets under pressure and yields surging to levels not seen in nearly 20 years.

“This increase in buyback operation sizes reflects Treasury’s desire to provide greater liquidity support in longer-dated nominal sectors where there is consistent strong sponsorship from market participants, as evidenced by the significant volume of  high-quality offers Treasury routinely receives in longer-dated buyback operations,” the department said in a statement. 

Lower long-term yields reduces the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold, and generally supports risk-on sentiment.