Bitcoin has pushed past $85,000, reaching its highest level since January as a combination of strong exchange-traded fund demand and renewed trader interest drives a broad cryptocurrency rally. The world's largest digital asset is up about 14% over the past 30 days and 21% over the past six months, though it remains roughly 2% lower since the start of the year.
The gains extend beyond Bitcoin. XRP and Ethereum have each risen about 17% over the last month, signaling that the recovery is touching a wider range of major tokens after a prolonged stretch of weak performance across crypto markets.
A key force behind the move has been the appetite for Bitcoin ETFs, which collectively absorbed more than $3.5 billion in August, the strongest month of the year so far. Those inflows have created a steady base of buying demand, and the trend has largely continued into September, adding pressure to prices. The visible upward movement may also be drawing in investors who had been waiting on the sidelines for crypto markets to turn positive after a difficult year.
That dynamic can become self-reinforcing. As prices rise, traders who had stayed out begin to enter the market, and their purchases add further demand. The result has been a rally that has surprised those who believed crypto was settling into another extended period of depressed prices, sometimes called a crypto winter. The recent breakout suggests that either the downturn was milder than assumed or that it is now coming to an end.
Market participants are already discussing the possibility of a new bull phase. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said in an interview with CNBC's «Squawk Box Europe» on Monday that he expects Bitcoin to catch back up to its all-time high. Bitcoin peaked at more than $126,000 in October 2025. Hougan described the recent period as an unusual situation in which prices declined on a cyclical basis even as underlying fundamentals improved, and he said he suspects prices will catch up toward the end of the year. He added that he does not think Bitcoin would still be below those all-time highs if he returned next year.
Outside crypto markets, several forces could influence Bitcoin's path. The ongoing war in Iran and the resulting rise in energy prices, along with the Federal Reserve's most recent interest rate increase — its first in three years — are among the factors that might normally weigh on risk assets. So far, they have not derailed the rally. The stock market, by contrast, saw a short decline last week.
Crypto-related equities have also moved higher. As of Monday, shares of Coinbase Global were up almost 20% over the past five days, while Robinhood Markets had gained more than 10%. The strength in those stocks suggests that investors are positioning for a broader recovery in digital-asset markets rather than treating the recent move as a narrow spike in Bitcoin alone.
Whether the rally can hold will depend in part on whether ETF inflows continue and whether traders keep adding to positions. For now, the combination of steady institutional buying and improving sentiment has lifted Bitcoin to territory it had not seen since the start of the year, giving the market its clearest sign yet that the long slump may be fading.