Bitcoin Tops $80,000 as ETF Inflows, Quantum Fix, and Stablecoins Drive Headlines

Bitcoin crossed the $80,000 milestone this week for the first time since earlier in the year, powered by an eight-day streak of spot ETF inflows that pulled in $2.8 billion total. The rally has pushed BTC up roughly 25% in August alone, on pace for its strongest monthly performance since October 2025, with ether ETFs matching the inflow pace day for day alongside their bitcoin counterparts.

The ETF momentum reflects a broader macro shift rather than a purely crypto-driven surge. James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, described the move as "a macro story, not a crypto one," citing softer inflation and weaker payroll data as the forces undermining the case for further Federal Reserve tightening. Bitcoin briefly retreated below $79,000 late Wednesday after a hotter-than-expected inflation print prompted traders to unwind leveraged positions, though the market stabilized quickly.

Blockstream Files Quantum-Resistant Signature Proposal for Bitcoin

On the technical front, Blockstream researcher Jonas Nick published a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for SHRINCS, a post-quantum signature scheme designed to protect the network against future quantum-computing attacks without gutting transaction throughput. Existing NIST-approved quantum-safe signatures would slash Bitcoin's capacity from roughly 6.5 transactions per second to under one, because their larger signatures fill blocks faster. SHRINCS keeps throughput at approximately 3 transactions per second by starting at 324 bytes per signature and leveraging SegWit's existing witness discount.

The proposal carries important caveats: the formal security proof remains unfinished, the reference software is not production-ready, and moving certain keys between incompatible wallet implementations risks losing funds. The scheme is built entirely on SHA-256, the same hash function powering Bitcoin's mining system, meaning it avoids introducing new cryptographic assumptions. Reaching the network would require a soft fork and broad community consensus, a process that could take years even with favorable reception.

Meanwhile, stablecoin adoption across Latin America continues to outpace headline bitcoin usage. Brazil's crypto purchases in the first quarter of 2026 reached $6.9 billion, with 98% of that volume in stablecoins, according to Central Bank of Brazil data. In Argentina, more than 70% of purchases on the Bitso exchange were USDT or USDC, and El Salvador's digital-currency remittances hit $35.4 million in the first half of 2026, up 39.1% year over year.