Bitcoin climbed above $80,000 early Monday, reclaiming a major psychological threshold for the first time since early 2026 and extending a recovery that began after February’s lows near $60,000.
The largest cryptocurrency was trading at $80,050 at 11:15 AM IST, up 2.3% in the past 24 hours on trading volume exceeding $31.8 billion, according to TradingView data. It opened the day at $78,200 and briefly touched $80,526 before settling near the breakout level.
The move came hours after President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom” on Truth Social Sunday evening. In the post, Trump said the U.S. would begin guiding stranded neutral cargo ships out of the Iranian-blocked Strait of Hormuz starting Monday.
The operation, backed by U.S. Central Command with destroyers, aircraft and roughly 15,000 personnel, aims to free vessels belonging to countries not involved in the conflict. Trump warned that any interference would “have to be dealt with forcefully.”
While the strait remains closed and U.S.-Iran tensions persist, the announcement eased immediate fears over global oil flows. Oil futures fell below $100 a barrel in Asian trading, helping fuel a broader risk-on mood that spilled into cryptocurrency markets.
Push from Bitcoin ETFs and institutional investors
In the past few weeks, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust has dominated the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF landscape, with it consistently recording the largest daily net purchases among its peers. As traditional investors seek regulated exposure to cryptocurrency without the operational hassle of self-custody, the fund has drawn steady inflows that translate directly into on-exchange buying of actual Bitcoin.
This persistent accumulation has provided a reliable bid under the market, helping stabilize prices during periods of geopolitical uncertainty and reinforcing the narrative that Wall Street is now a structural buyer rather than a fleeting participant.
At the same time, Strategy—formerly known as MicroStrategy—has pursued its corporate Bitcoin treasury strategy with renewed intensity. Over March and April, the company acquired more than 100,000 Bitcoin, punctuated by a single-week blitz in mid-April when it purchased 34,164 coins for $2.54 billion.
Executed largely in the open market, Strategy’s transactions reflect a deliberate, high-conviction approach that treats Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset superior to cash or traditional bonds. The scale and pace of these buyings caught the attention of traders and amplified bullish sentiment across the ecosystem.
The result has been transformative: Strategy’s holdings now exceed 818,334 BTC, making it the single largest corporate owner of the cryptocurrency worldwide and eclipsing even the holdings of some major ETFs.
By removing such a significant slice of supply from circulation, the purchases have tightened the market’s liquidity profile and contributed to the short squeeze that propelled Bitcoin above $80,000. More than numbers on a balance sheet, the moves underscore a deepening institutional embrace of BTC as a long-term store of value, lending credibility to the rally at a critical psychological level.
The combination triggered a short squeeze and broke multi-week resistance, with traders noting thin sell orders above $80,000. This spike is a relief to investors as Bitcoin had been consolidating after last October’s record high of $126,198 and a sharp post-peak correction.
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