Pantera Capital portfolio manager Cosmo Jiang told CNBC on Friday that institutional capital is fueling Bitcoin’s recent ascent, with the next major technical hurdle sitting near $80,000.
Jiang noted that while a modest pullback remains possible, positioning has shifted decisively. “From everything we see, positioning is starting to reverse,” he said. “People are going from very much on the sidelines and even net short positioning to now realizing they want to be long, for what could be a very big technology.”
Bitcoin traded around $77,412 after gaining more than 23% over the past week, having touched an intraday high of $79,319 on Friday. The rally marks a sharp reversal from June and July, when the asset largely consolidated below $65,000.
JUST IN: $3.8 billion Pantera Capital tells CNBC the Bitcoin price is starting to “reverse” to the upside
“There’s smart money now coming in, and there’s real fundamentals to support the rebound in prices.” pic.twitter.com/278fR8t9vx
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 21, 2026
The upswing coincides with a series of positive policy developments in Washington. President Donald Trump met with cryptocurrency executives earlier this week and pressed lawmakers to advance the long-awaited Clarity Act, legislation designed to delineate regulatory jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. A congressional vote on the bill is scheduled for September.
On the same day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the department would at least double the size of its long-dated bond buyback program. The news propelled non-yielding assets, including both Bitcoin and gold, higher.
Beyond the macroeconomic tailwinds, Jiang highlighted a constellation of fundamental drivers — growing stablecoin adoption, the rise of prediction markets, expanding perpetual futures activity, and the convergence of artificial intelligence with crypto infrastructure — as supportive of further price appreciation.
“It’s really hard not to be bullish,” he concluded.
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