Spot bitcoin ETFs pulled in $606 million on Aug. 20 and ether funds $221 million, both bigger than the prior day, confirming the institutional bid behind bitcoin’s run.
Bitcoin tops $77,000 as the rally keeps building
Bitcoin hit $77,010 on Friday, up 7.67% on the day, extending a run that has carried it from below $64,000 earlier in the week, per CoinDesk data. The 24-hour range ran from $71,115 to a high near $77,000, and its market cap pushed past $1.5 trillion.
Bitcoin is still about 39% below its October record near $126,000, so this is a recovery within a down year rather than new ground. The pace is the thing to watch now.
A vertical run like this can reverse just as fast once momentum fades, and whether the ETF flows hold into next week is what separates a durable break from a squeeze.
Anthropic aims to match or beat SpaceX’s record IPO, in a fresh test of AI-versus-crypto capital
Anthropic expects its planned IPO to match or exceed SpaceX’s record, according to Bloomberg, and could file publicly as soon as the end of this month. The Claude developer is still running the numbers, with CFO Krishna Rao sidestepping valuation in recent investor briefings, and the size could still change.
SpaceX raised $75 billion at its debut in June, the biggest first-time share sale ever, a figure that rose to $86.2 billion once the overallotment option was exercised. Anthropic beating that would mark the largest IPO on record and underline how hard investors are chasing AI exposure.
That competition for capital has run alongside crypto all year. The wave of AI listings, SpaceX first, then OpenAI and Anthropic filing behind it, pulled institutional money that might otherwise have found crypto, a dynamic that tracked bitcoin’s worst ETF outflows in June. The timing now is the twist. Anthropic is lining up its mega-IPO in the same week bitcoin broke out past $75,000 on record ETF inflows, the AI and crypto bids running hot at once rather than at each other’s expense.
Bitcoin ETFs draw $606 million in a second day of surging inflows
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in $606 million on Aug. 20, up from $517 million the day before, while ether ETFs pulled in $221 million, per SoSoValue data. Every listed asset drew inflows, with XRP funds adding $13 million and Solana $15 million, a second straight day of accelerating institutional buying behind bitcoin’s breakout.
The flows answer the question hanging over the run. Bitcoin cleared $69,000 on Wednesday and pushed above $72,000 on Thursday, and the worry was whether the move was real demand or shorts getting squeezed. Two days of inflows this size, each bigger than the last, point to institutions chasing the break rather than a one-day liquidation spike doing all the work.
Bitcoin traded near $75,500 on Friday after touching $72,344 on Thursday, holding most of the week’s gains.
The near-term risk is the pace. Bitcoin has run from below $64,000 to above $72,000 in three days, and rallies that steep tend to give back ground once the momentum cools.
The flows are the thing to watch. If ETF buying holds into next week, the breakout has a foundation. If it fades, the move looks more like a spike than a trend.
