Crypto markets broke out of a months-long weak stretch during the week of Aug. 17-23, with Aug. 19 serving as the turning point, according to HTX.
That day, U.S. President Donald Trump gathered crypto companies, regulators, and traditional finance representatives at the White House and publicly urged Congress to advance digital asset legislation. The U.S. Treasury also announced that it would at least double the cap on single long-end Treasury liquidity support repo operations, raising it from $2 billion to $4 billion.
As policy expectations and liquidity expectations improved at the same time, the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield fell by about 9 basis points on the day. Risk assets then strengthened, and Bitcoin rose more than 8% within 12 hours.
Bitcoin cleared its long-held range
For the full week, Bitcoin gained about 22%, breaking above the $60,000 to $70,000 range that had held for much of the year. From Aug. 19 to Aug. 22, total crypto market capitalization excluding Bitcoin increased by about $215 billion, moving back above $1 trillion.
HTX platform data showed strength across several sectors during the week, with Meme and DeFi assets standing out.
Meme tokens posted some of the biggest moves
HTX said Meme assets again showed high elasticity during this rally. The report described them as tools traders often use to express risk appetite, with gains that tend to outpace major assets when market sentiment improves quickly.
- TRUMP rose 89% for the week. HTX described it as a Meme asset tied to the U.S. president, drawing added attention during a week packed with policy headlines.
- TUT (Tutorial) rose 75%. TUT was issued on Four.meme, a Meme platform on BNB Chain, and originated from a token launch tutorial demo.
- PEPE rose 56%. HTX said PEPE is one of the longer-standing Meme assets in the market and has relatively strong liquidity, often reacting early when the sector starts moving.
- PUMP rose 88%. Pump.fun is a Meme issuance platform in the Solana ecosystem, and its price move tracked the broader recovery in the Meme segment.
HTX also warned that Meme asset prices do not follow predictable patterns and can fall as quickly as they rise.
DeFi names moved with Pendle incentive changes
The report tied last week's DeFi strength to a specific business catalyst. On Aug. 17, Pendle raised the cap on its PT Looping incentive program to $15 million and added two new pools. Among them, PT-USD3 was deployed on Morpho, while PT-USDG was deployed on both Aave and Morpho. The incentive window runs through Aug. 27.
HTX said the program directly links yield strategies across Pendle, Aave, and Morpho, drawing capital attention to related assets during the same period.
- PENDLE rose 48% for the week. Its core mechanism splits yield-bearing assets into principal and yield components for trading, and PT Looping adds a leveraged fixed-yield strategy on top of that structure.
- AAVE rose 22%. HTX described Aave as the largest decentralized lending protocol by scale and said it provides the borrowing layer for the strategy.
- MORPHO rose 20%. Morpho uses a modular lending market design that allows separate risk parameters for fixed-term principal tokens.
ZEC and XRP also outperformed
ZEC gained 66% during the week. HTX said Zcash had an independent driver outside the broader market move. On Aug. 18, Grayscale submitted Amendment No. 4 to its Form S-3 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, advancing a plan to convert its Zcash trust into a spot ETF for listing on NYSE Arca.
The filing also disclosed that a subsidiary of parent company Digital Currency Group was engaged in non-binding discussions over the purchase of about 200,000 ZEC. After the disclosure, ZEC continued to climb and broke above $800 on Aug. 22, reaching its highest level since 2018.
The report added that the position of privacy assets in 2026 has changed from prior years. As compliance frameworks become clearer, privacy technology is being applied more to data protection itself rather than to avoiding regulation, and institutional attitudes toward the sector have shifted with that change.
XRP rose 49% for the week. HTX said that as one of the market's major large-cap assets, XRP ranked among the stronger performers during the broad rally, reflecting a return of capital to leading tokens after policy expectations improved.
Broad rally leaves open questions on durability
HTX said last week's gains spread across categories ranging from major assets to Meme tokens, a clear change from the more isolated rotations seen in prior months. The simultaneous improvement in regulatory expectations and liquidity expectations on Aug. 19 served as the direct starting point for the move, after which capital spread out from leading assets into DeFi, privacy-related assets, and Meme tokens.
At the same time, the report said the market remains divided on how long the rebound can last. Bitcoin has broken above its trading range for the year, but it still sits well below the highs seen at the start of 2026. Whether institutional inflows remain stable and whether policy progress is ultimately delivered will take more time to assess. HTX said it will continue tracking market developments and sector shifts while providing a stable trading environment and service support for users.