Aug 21 — Debt hits $40T, Bitcoin breaks out, SEC crypto rules

• Treasury doubled bond buyback operations to at least $4B per session as US debt crossed $40 trillion — easing long-end stress but sharpening fiscal sustainability concerns. • Bitcoin surged past $72,000 for the first time since May, wiping out $3B in shorts and drawing $517M in ETF inflows — signaling renewed institutional appetite. • The SEC released proposed rulemaking under Regulation Crypto Assets, offering a formal legal path for token sales in the US — the most significant domestic crypto regulatory shift in years.