Bitcoin has posted its largest dollar-denominated weekly gain on record, adding $14,264 to close at $77,387 as Strive CEO Matt Cole predicts the next Bitcoin cycle could be its strongest yet.
Summary
- Bitcoin gained a record $14,264 last week to close at $77,387, up 22.7%.
- Strive CEO Matt Cole expects the next Bitcoin cycle to be the strongest yet as BTC breaks out against both the dollar and gold.
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $1.92 billion in weekly net inflows, their highest since October 2025.
- Cole expects dollar weakness and rising demand for scarce assets to support Bitcoin over the next 12 to 18 months.
Bitcoin has gained roughly 22.7% over seven days, according to crypto.news price data, with the rally accelerating after the U.S. Treasury Department expanded its government bond buyback program and spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their strongest weekly inflows since October 2025.
Cole, chairman and CEO of Bitcoin treasury company Strive, said Bitcoin’s recent performance against both the U.S. dollar and gold has strengthened his view that the cryptocurrency is entering a new cycle backed by macro conditions it has not experienced before.
“Bitcoin priced in gold is reinforcing my view that the next Bitcoin cycle will be the strongest we have ever seen,” Cole wrote in an X post.
His forecast follows a sharp change in market sentiment. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index climbed to 78, putting it close to the “extreme greed” category and at its highest level since December 2024.
Bitcoin ETF inflows add to renewed demand
Institutional demand returned alongside the price recovery, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recording $1.92 billion in total net inflows during the trading week ended Aug. 21, according to SoSoValue data.
The weekly total was the highest since October 2025, when Bitcoin was still trading around the peak of its previous bull cycle.
Bitcoin’s latest move began after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Aug. 19 that the Treasury would increase the maximum size of its liquidity-support bond buybacks for longer-dated securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation.
The expanded program, covering parts of the 10-to-30-year maturity range, is scheduled to begin in September. Long-term Treasury yields initially fell following the announcement, while the dollar weakened and Bitcoin, gold and equities moved higher.
For Cole, dollar weakness forms one part of his longer-term Bitcoin forecast. He expects the U.S. dollar to enter a sustained period of weakness and argues that Bitcoin has never operated through such a macro environment.
A second factor comes from what he described as a “growing hunt for scarcity in an AI-driven world of abundance.”
As artificial intelligence makes intelligence, software and other capabilities cheaper and easier to reproduce, Cole expects investors to place a higher premium on assets whose supply cannot be easily expanded. He placed Bitcoin alongside gold and silver within that category.
“Capital will increasingly place a premium on forms of scarcity that cannot be manufactured away,” Cole said.
Bitcoin-gold breakout strengthens Cole’s cycle call
Bitcoin’s performance against gold forms another part of Cole’s argument. The Bitcoin-to-gold ratio has risen to 16.73 ounces of gold per Bitcoin, its highest level since May, according to Longtermtrends data cited by The Block.
Cole said the ratio has previously provided an earlier signal of changes in Bitcoin’s market cycle than its dollar price.
Bitcoin peaked against gold in December 2024, almost a year before its dollar-denominated peak in October 2025, according to his analysis. While BTC continued setting new highs against the dollar during that period, its relative performance against gold had already weakened.
A similar sequence occurred around the latest lows. Cole said Bitcoin bottomed against gold in February 2026, about five months before BTC reached its dollar-denominated bottom in July.
“What makes this week particularly interesting is that Bitcoin has now broken out against both the dollar and gold. The breakout has been explosive,” he said.
Cole expects relative performance to play an important role in deciding where new capital enters the scarcity trade. If Bitcoin continues outperforming gold while investment into scarce assets increases, he believes BTC could take a larger portion of those flows.
“When Bitcoin is the fastest horse, it will attract a disproportionate share of that capital,” he added.
Bitcoin’s store-of-value role has also remained part of institutional research despite weaker conditions earlier this year. In June, Bernstein said Bitcoin had attracted roughly $12 billion in combined ETF and corporate treasury inflows during 2026, even as spot ETF investors had withdrawn a net $2.6 billion at the time.
Bernstein attributed much of that demand to corporate treasury buyers and said institutional ownership continued to support Bitcoin’s long-term store-of-value case.
Strive has kept adding Bitcoin during the downturn
Cole’s bullish forecast comes after Strive continued accumulating Bitcoin while prices were under pressure earlier this year.
As crypto.news previously reported in June, Strive purchased 2,500 BTC between May 23 and June 1 for approximately $185.2 million, paying an average of about $74,092 per coin.
The purchase lifted its holdings to 19,000 BTC at the time, while cash and cash equivalents increased to $137.3 million from $93.3 million. The company also reported no short-term or long-term debt.
Later that month, Strive added another 759 BTC for roughly $50 million, raising its holdings to 19,864 BTC. The coins were purchased between June 15 and June 21 at an average price of approximately $65,850, including fees and expenses.
Cole said in his latest post that Strive continued buying Bitcoin during the bear market, including purchases made almost every week during the months before the latest breakout.
The company has structured its balance sheet around what it calls Bitcoin amplification, seeking to increase Bitcoin exposure per share while avoiding debt, margin requirements and financing arrangements that could trigger forced liquidations.
Earlier in June, Strive expanded its fundraising plans by $4.2 billion through proposed increases to its ASST and SATA at-the-market programs, with $2.1 billion allocated to each program for additional capital capacity.
Cole said the company considers being too conservative a potential risk if Bitcoin performs as expected, arguing that waiting for future business cash flows to purchase BTC could result in acquiring fewer coins at higher prices.
Cole expects dips to attract aggressive buying
Despite his longer-term forecast, Cole acknowledged that Bitcoin could retrace after its rapid weekly advance.
“A meaningful retracement from here would not surprise me, but it may not happen at all,” he said.
If a pullback develops, Cole expects buyers to enter aggressively and said his conviction that Bitcoin’s bear market has ended remains “very strong.”
His outlook covers the next 12 to 18 months while extending the underlying scarcity thesis over several years. Cole expects a weaker dollar, continued monetary debasement and demand for assets with fixed or difficult-to-expand supplies to direct more capital toward scarce monetary assets.
Strive’s CEO said Bitcoin’s combination of absolute scarcity, global liquidity, portability and around-the-clock settlement gives it characteristics that differ from gold, which has thousands of years of monetary history.
“That setup has me more bullish on Bitcoin today than I have ever been,” Cole said.
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