Bitcoin has added 20% since mid-August, rocketing higher as the so-called debasement trade that see investors bet against the U.S. dollar returns (confirming Elon Musk’s nightmare).

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The bitcoin price, stuck in a downward trend for most of 2026, broke out of its slump as “panic” suddenly gripped markets, adding $300 billion to bitcoin’s market capitalization in mere hours.

After the sudden bitcoin price surge, traders are now braced for fresh U.S. money printing, with one closely-watched trader telling people to “get ready.”

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U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has primed the bitcoin price and crypto market for a fresh round of money printing.

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“Get ready, start buying,” Arthur Hayes, a cofounder of the bitcoin and crypto derivatives pioneer BitMex exchange who now runs the Maelstrom Fund, told podcaster Anthony Pompliano, adding that he expects bitcoin to do “very, very well” in the coming years.

"I think that we’re not going to get a 2008-style, massive credit event but we’re just going to continue print and print and print and you’re going to look up and see bitcoin at $250,000."

Hayes pointed to Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s recent promise of bond market support, designed to lower the cost of borrowing, which sent shockwaves through the market.

“If the market doesn’t do what [Bessent] wants it to do and it keeps edging up and testing him, then he’s going to have to keep printing and printing and printing,” Hayes said.

“Eventually, he’ll get to something as audacious as what [former Treasury secretary Janet] Yellen did, which is drain the reverse facility at the Federal Reserve. You know, she did $2.4 trillion of liquidity injection, right?”

This week, it was reported Bessent has indicated the Treasury could use its near $1 trillion General Account to help fund bond purchases.

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The sudden return of the debasement trade, which also lifted the price of gold, pushed investors toward bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

“Bitcoin’s roughly 23% rise last week was its strongest weekly advance since March 2023, but the composition of the rally matters as much as its size. Approximately $1.9 billion flowed into U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, providing evidence of genuine investor demand, while record short liquidations added further momentum," Gadi Chait, investment manager at Xapo Bank, said in emailed comments.

“Importantly, the Treasury’s decision to increase long-dated bond buybacks added a further macro catalyst, signalling that policymakers are increasingly sensitive to stress in long-term government debt markets. Bitcoin responded as it often does, amplifying broader shifts in liquidity expectations and risk appetite and moving more sharply than the wider market. Over the longer term, the same fiscal pressures reinforce bitcoin’s fundamental case. As rising debt fuels concerns about potential currency debasement, its fixed supply and independence from any government or central bank become increasingly relevant.”