Bitcoin hits 3-month high amid Treasury's new Iran sanctions

Bitcoin hits 3-month high amid Treasury's new Iran sanctions

Anand Sinha

Tue, August 25, 2026 at 8:47 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• BTC-USD +0.36%

Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed the $81,000 price level on Aug. 25, its highest level since mid-May.

The latest surge is part of the broader crypto rally that began after the short squeeze caused by the U.S. Treasury's Aug. 19 announcement to at least double the amount of long-term government bond buybacks, which ignited liquidity hopes.

Related: Anonymous coder hides Bitcoin puzzle in Satoshi's genesis block

Bitcoin shorts worth $240 million get wiped out

As per the onchain analytics platform CoinGlass, $240 million worth of Bitcoin short positions got liquidated within the last 24 hours.

In contrast, the figure of long liquidations stood at only $88.83 million.

What it means is that Bitcoin traders can no longer afford to be bearish on the leading cryptocurrency and the rally is leading to forced closing of their short positions.

The subsequent short squeeze is leading to a further price surge.

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Treasury targets Iran on 'Economic D-Day'

On Aug. 24, the U.S. Treasury Department began Operation Economic Outcast against Iran.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) can now sanction any person, regardless of their location, operating in different sections of the Iranian economy, such as digital assets, gold, aviation, and shipping.

"In the Second World War, D-Day marked the historic beginning of a campaign with our allies to target and drive the enemy from its positions, including those in third countries," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "Today, in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe."

VALR executive senses a sustained structural bull market

Ben Caselin, CMO at the VALR crypto exchange, told TheStreet Roundtable that the recent Bitcoin breakout above $80,000 reflects far more than a temporary liquidity squeeze. It is a classic response to mounting monetary stress, amplified by a deeper structural transformation in global finance, he added.

The U.S. national debt surpassing $40 trillion prompted the Treasury to expand bond buybacks, which has compressed long-term yields and sharpened concerns over currency debasement, he stressed. Gold's price also surpassed $4,500 an ounce, he added.

But the Bitcoin surge cannot be explained by the debasement trade thesis alone, as the regulatory clarity, with progress around the CLARITY Act, is accelerating the shift, he underlined. Institutional builders, corporate treasuries, and retail participants are also getting more confident to scale participation as a result, he added.

These forces indicate that the current momentum marks the acceleration of a sustained structural bull market, Caselin concluded.

As per Decibel, Bitcoin was trading at $78,364 at the time of writing, up more than 20% in a week.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.