(Aug 20): Bitcoin’s bruised market suddenly sprang back to life, surging nearly 8% and unleashing the biggest wave of short liquidations in records going back to 2021.

More than US$1 billion (RM4.04 billion) of bitcoin short positions were liquidated in about an hour, according to data from Coinglass, underscoring the speed of Wednesday’s reversal that pushed the largest cryptocurrency to around US$69,500, its highest since early June and its biggest gain since March. Across crypto tokens, a record US$2.7 billion in bearish bets were wiped.

Bitcoin held its gains in Asia on Thursday, trading around US$69,450 at 1pm in Singapore. 

The upswing came as US President Donald Trump met with crypto executives from firms including…