Bitcoin gained 25% in August. CZ, Saylor and BlackRock on what comes next

Bitcoin closed August up 24.95%, its biggest monthly gain since November 2024, with a high of $80,894 on August 25. It trades near $78,000 now. Spot bitcoin ETFs took in $3.52 billion over the month, their best stretch of 2026. The rally brought the market's best-known names back into public view, and most of them answered with a multi-year target.

The comparison with gold

Changpeng Zhao, who co-founded Binance, compared bitcoin to gold. He said it at Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong.

“I think Bitcoin will overtake gold pretty soon. In the next bull run, it could happen.”

— Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, Binance co-founder, Bitcoin Asia 2026, Hong Kong

Quote source: Decrypt, 27 August 2026

Gold's market value sits near $30 trillion. Bitcoin at $78,000 is roughly a twentieth of that, so the claim covers years. Arthur Hayes, who co-founded BitMEX, put a date on a similar idea in September, saying bitcoin reaches $1 million by 2030 after an AI credit unwind and heavy money printing.

The institutional version

Robert Mitchnick runs digital assets at BlackRock, and he speaks to allocators. He built his case for bitcoin on the balance sheet of the United States.

“Debt and deficit levels are a major concern for markets.”

— Robert Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets, BlackRock, CNBC, 26 August 2026

Quote source: CNBC, 26 August 2026

He added that when those concerns return to the headlines, the beneficiaries tend to be assets like bitcoin and gold. Federal debt north of $40 trillion and annual interest payments approaching $1 trillion are the numbers behind that sentence.

The buyers who acted on it

Strategy ended a two-month pause in August and bought $370 million of bitcoin. Michael Saylor announced it in two words.

Simon Gerovich, chief executive of Metaplanet, told the same Hong Kong conference that Asian corporate demand has started its own cycle.

“I've been a professional investor for a long time, and this is the most asymmetric setup I've ever encountered.”

— Simon Gerovich, CEO, Metaplanet, Bitcoin Asia 2026, Hong Kong

Quote source: BTC-ECHO, 31 August 2026

“Today should serve as a great reminder for everyone that crypto bear markets don't last forever.”

— Kris Marszalek, CEO, Crypto.com, X, 20 August 2026

Quote source: Kris Marszalek on X, 20 August 2026, via our report that day

The tests for the rest of 2026

All five voices above are long bitcoin. They run exchanges, asset managers and treasury companies, and none of them get paid when it falls. The counterweight is in the flow data.

• ETF flows: $3.52 billion in August set the bar. A month that fails to hold half of that would say the institutional bid is thinner than the quotes suggest.
• The supply wall: analysts have put heavy overhead supply in the low $80,000s, and bitcoin stalled there twice in August.
• September itself: the month has a long record of being the weakest of the year for both stocks and bitcoin.

One target sits at $1 million and one ceiling sat at $80,894 last month. The first is a thesis about the next decade, the second is a number that stopped the rally twice. The flow data decides which one the rest of 2026 belongs to.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.