The Same US Treasury Move Sent Bitcoin From $65K to $80K – So Why Didn’t It Work This Time?

The US Treasury said it would actually triple the size of its long-term bond buybacks - why didn't it push BTC north again?

It was less than a month ago when the US Treasury Department announced it would double the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated government debt.

Bitcoin’s price reacted at the time with an immediate leg up. The Treasury now said it would triple it to $6 billion, but BTC remained flat and even dipped. So, what changed?

Same Move, Different Reaction

On August 19, the Treasury Department’s Scott Bessent unexpectedly announced that the institution would at least double liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated government debt from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation. Financial markets reacted immediately, with BTC and gold leading the surge. Meanwhile, long-term Treasury yields dropped.

By buying older long-term Treasuries, the government was essentially attempting to improve liquidity in a bond market suffering from rapidly rising yields. Declining yields, on the other hand, typically reduce the appeal of bonds and ease financial conditions, which is a friendlier environment for bitcoin and other risk assets.