The global cryptocurrency market capitalization climbed to nearly $2.82 trillion on Thursday, September 3, 2026, reaching its highest level in more than seven months. The recovery follows a sharp early-year sell-off, when total market cap fell from roughly $3.4 trillion in mid-January to about $2.3 trillion in the first week of February.
Bitcoin traded around $81,460 at publication time, up 5.4% over 24 hours after breaking the $80,000 resistance level. Among the top 50 cryptocurrencies, Zcash (ZEC) led gains with a 16.5% jump. Cardano (ADA) advanced 13% to settle near $0.22, while Dogecoin (DOGE) and XRP each rose roughly 10%.
Crypto-linked equities also rallied. Strategy and Circle, the issuer of USDC, each gained about 15%, while Coinbase rose around 10%. Strategy’s STRC preferred shares moved back toward their intended $100 par value after falling as low as $69 five weeks earlier.
Wincent Senior Director Paul Howard said bitcoin’s move above $80,000 was fueled by $100 million of ETF inflows and over-the-counter activity, adding that a revival in memecoin trading could support a climb toward $100,000 by the end of the year.
The rally comes as markets remain nearly evenly split on the Federal Reserve’s next move at the September 16 FOMC meeting: traders price a 50.4% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike and a 49.6% chance that rates stay unchanged. Richard Green of RootstockLabs said the simultaneous rise in bitcoin and gold points to a debasement trade amid sovereign debt concerns. Adam Haeems of Tesseract Group highlighted about $1.4 billion in September bitcoin puts between $68,000 and $75,000, while overall put open interest is roughly half that of calls, with heavy call positioning between $82,000 and $100,000.
