Bitcoin News Today: Institutional Buyers and Miners Power Bitcoin’s Rally Toward $180K

VanEck has reaffirmed its $180,000 year-end price target for Bitcoin (BTC) as bullish sentiment dominates the options market and on-chain metrics continue to show resilience. As of mid-August, BTC briefly dipped to $112,000 before rebounding to a new all-time high of $124,000. The CME basis funding rate climbed to 9%, the highest since February 2025, reflecting growing speculative demand. Exchange-traded products (ETPs) and Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) added 54,000 and 72,000 BTC, respectively, in July, further supporting the upward trajectory [1].

Options positioning has skewed heavily in favor of buyers. The call/put ratio reached 3.21x, the highest since June 2024, with $792 million spent on call premiums, representing a 37% month-over-month increase. Implied volatility dipped to 32%, significantly below the one-year average of 50%, reducing option pricing. A 25% out-of-the-money (OTM) one-year call now costs approximately 6% of the spot price, compared to 18% in late 2024. Over the past 30 days, total option premiums hit $1.1 billion, raising the potential for a volatility spike as investors return from summer holidays [1].

On-chain data shows a mixed picture. Bitcoin’s dominance fell from 64.5% in early July to 59.7% by mid-August, as Ethereum gained traction. Network transactions increased by 26% month-over-month to 12.9 million, the highest since November 2024, while median fees declined by 13% to 421 sats, the lowest since September 2024. The drop in fees was partly attributed to a reduction in ordinal inscription activity, which hit its second-lowest level since August 2024 [1].

The Bitcoin mining sector showed signs of expansion. Total hashrate reached 902 exahashes per second (EH/s) in August, a 47% year-over-year increase. Revenue per EH/s climbed to $59.4K, the highest since December 2024. Among key developments, Hive Digital reached 14 EH/s, Cleanspark exceeded 50 EH/s with over 1 gigawatt of contracted power, and CIFR’s Black Pearl hit 3.4 EH/s. Equity performance was uneven: Argo Blockchain (APLD) surged ~54% due to strong earnings and a CoreWeave expansion, while C3.ai (CIFR) fell ~22% amid uncertainties around costs and AI/high-performance computing (HPC) integration [1].

U.S.-listed miners now control 31.5% of the global Bitcoin hashrate, a record high and a sign of accelerating consolidation and scale advantages. TeraWulf (WULF) secured a strategic partnership with Fluidstack, backed by Google, to host 200 MW of AI load. The first phase (40 MW) is set to launch in the first half of 2026, with full deployment expected by year-end, positioning WULF as a leader in AI-linked mining infrastructure [1].

Despite strong fundamentals, challenges remain. Public Bitcoin treasuries hold 951,000 BTC, but mNAVs for Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) have compressed. For instance, mNAVs for MicroStrategy (MSTR), MTPLF, and SMLR fell by 16%, 62%, and 12%, respectively, in July. With volatility subdued, financing for DATs has been limited, potentially constraining future growth. Institutional flows and regulatory clarity will likely be key factors in determining DAT performance [1].

Looking ahead, VanEck highlights several risks and watchpoints as the market transitions into the fall season. Large outstanding options positions could amplify price swings in response to even minor volatility spikes. In the mining sector, execution and integration of AI/HPC workloads may widen performance gaps among firms. Meanwhile, macroeconomic shifts and investor re-engagement could either prolong Bitcoin’s rally or trigger profit-taking. Despite these uncertainties, VanEck remains confident in its $180K BTC year-end target, citing strong on-chain activity, bullish derivatives positioning, and continued institutional interest in digital assets [1].

Source: [1] VanEck Mid-August 2025 Bitcoin ChainCheck (https://www.vaneck.com/us/en/blogs/digital-assets/matthew-sigel-vaneck-mid-august-2025-bitcoin-chaincheck/)