Bitcoin Hit Its Highest Price Since May

Hey Lantern Community,

Bitcoin touched $80,000 this week for the first time since May. XRP rallied 43% and then lost a third of its value in minutes on a Saturday flash crash.

Bitcoin's best week in three years

Bitcoin closed last Thursday at $71,760. By Monday it had cleared $80,000, its highest price since May and, according to Bloomberg, its strongest weekly rally in more than three years.

Same fuel as last week's squeeze, just more of it. Total short liquidations tied to the move passed $4 billion, up from the $2.74 billion we reported last Thursday. Spot Bitcoin ETFs added $1.92 billion for the week ending August 21, their best week since October 2025, then pulled in another $336 million on August 25 alone, led by BlackRock's IBIT.

XRP rallied 43%, then crashed 37% in a weekend

XRP closed last week at $1.19. It kept climbing, rallying as much as 60% at its peak, before a flash crash on Saturday, August 22 wiped out a third of that gain in minutes. Roughly $500 million in leveraged longs got liquidated in a broader $1.35 billion cross-market wipeout. XRP fell 37% almost instantly while Bitcoin dropped 2.5%, Ethereum 5%, and Solana 11.5%.

No protocol issue behind it. Thin weekend liquidity and a market crowded on one side after the prior week's gains. XRP recovered through the rest of the week and closed near $1.43 on August 26, still up 43.7% over seven days despite the crash, ahead of every other top-10 crypto asset.

If you're holding XRP as collateral, that kind of swing is a reminder LTV cushion can build and disappear fast. It's exactly what our 72-hour grace period is built for.

Coinbase CEO says Clarity Act will pass

On August 21, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC he's "pretty optimistic" the CLARITY Act clears 60 votes at its September 15 Senate procedural vote, arguing Majority Leader Thune "would not have scheduled this... if he didn't think it would pass" and both parties "got 90% or so of what they want."

Independent trackers have been far less confident. Galaxy Research's odds on the bill becoming law in 2026 slid from 50% to 10% earlier this month as the Senate calendar tightened. That gap, between an executive's public optimism and the researchers' math, is the story. We'll know a lot more in three weeks.

Lantern Spotlight: Setup Autopay

Don't forget: autopay is available. No more manually making your interest payment every month. Connect your bank once from your Lantern dashboard, make your first payment, and flip on autopay. It runs automatically on the 1st of every month, so your loan stays in good standing without you thinking about it.

To turn it on: Make Payment → Enable autopay for future payments (at the bottom). Works across all your loans.

Bank not listed? Link it manually with your routing and account number.

Bitcoin's highest price since May, XRP's wildest week of the year, and a real date on the calendar for crypto regulation. It's been a volatile seven days, but the direction is still up.

If you're holding through swings like this and want liquidity without selling, Bitcoin-backed loans at Lantern start at 8%, funded same-day including weekends.

Borrow against your crypto here: https://lantern.finance/borrow

Until next week,

The Lantern Team