- Bitcoin breaks above $78,000, up 24.4% for the week amid a broad rally.
- Zcash hits a new all-time high near $850, surging more than 45% in a day.
- Standard Chartered raises its Bitcoin target to $126,000, calls $100K “too low.”
Bitcoin traded near $78,302, up 5.4% over the past 24 hours and up a massive 24.4% for the week, briefly touching $78,055. Ethereum surged 7.4% on the day and 33.7% for the week to trade above $2,515. XRP jumped 21.4% to $1.57, up an extraordinary 55.8% weekly, while BNB rose 9.1% to $716.54, up 18.2% for the week.
Solana gained 8.7% to $96.77, up 28.3% weekly. Total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.76 trillion, up 5.8% over the past day, with 24-hour trading volume reaching $171.08 billion.
Trending Searches Track a Historic ZEC Rally
Zcash led trending searches with a 47.1% surge, touching a new all-time high near $850, followed by Hyperliquid, up 11.9%, and Pepe, up 31.2%. Among top gainers, Official Trump jumped 62.1% and Audiera added 52.7%, as the broad rally lifted both privacy coins and meme tokens.
ZEC’s Historic Run to $850
Zcash briefly touched $850, a new all-time high, before settling near $847, up more than 45% over 24 hours. The surge follows growing institutional interest in privacy assets, with Grayscale submitting a fifth amended filing to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF under the ticker ZCH, positioning it to become the first US ETF directly tracking a privacy-focused asset.
Standard Chartered Lifts Bitcoin Target to $126,000
Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick raised his year-end Bitcoin forecast, saying the cryptocurrency could re-challenge its record high near $126,000, calling his earlier $100,000 target potentially “too low” for the first time this year.
He attributed the recent rally primarily to short liquidations and recovering spot ETF inflows, noting low open interest could draw in additional buyers if the price continues climbing.
Institutional Buying Accelerates Sharply
BlackRock purchased 11,098 BTC (approximately $852 million) and 132,769 ETH (approximately $316 million) over just two days. Morgan Stanley added Bitcoin for a second consecutive day, pushing total holdings to nearly 7,000 coins worth roughly $515 million.
Treasury company positions swung sharply positive as well, with crypto miner and treasury stocks surging over the weekend, Canaan up more than 25% and Strive up more than 16%, as the market priced in the Treasury’s expanded buyback program as a liquidity tailwind.
Massive Liquidation Cascade Continues
Total contract liquidations reached $1.486 billion over 24 hours, with short positions accounting for the vast majority at $1.196 billion versus $290 million in longs. This followed an even larger $2.987 billion liquidation event on August 19, the eighth-largest in crypto market history, which CoinGlass attributed directly to the Treasury buyback announcement and SEC crypto regulatory developments.
Clarity Act and SEC Rules Advance
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he expects the CLARITY Act to clear its first Senate procedural vote around 60 votes on September 15. Separately, Galaxy Research’s Alex Thorn highlighted the SEC’s newly proposed “Regulation Crypto Assets,” calling it the first securities framework specifically designed for crypto issuance rather than adapted from traditional stock rules, potentially resolving long-standing uncertainty over historical tokens’ securities status.
Related: Coinbase CEO Warns US Risks Falling Behind G20 in Crypto Regulation
Security Incidents Persist Amid the Rally
BounceBit permanently shut down its self-developed blockchain after an Evmos protocol vulnerability allowed attackers to transfer roughly 286.5 million BB tokens without authorization from nine mainnet accounts.
The Sandbox’s SAND token on Base was also suspected of an abnormal minting exploit, prompting Bithumb and Upbit to suspend deposits and withdrawals. TRM Labs reported AI-assisted crypto crime grew 40% over the past year, with digital asset hacking cases in the first half of 2026 reaching a record 201, more than double the same period in 2025.
Related: Grayscale Files Fifth Amendment for Proposed Zcash ETF
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