US Treasury Yields Hit Multi-Decade High as BTC Steadies and ONDO Rallies

Bitcoin (BTC) had a volatile Thursday during US hours as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed to its highest level in nearly two decades. After briefly falling below $83,000, BTC struggled to reclaim $84,500. Ondo Finance (ONDO), meanwhile, was among the top-performing altcoins.

Key points: 

• Bitcoin briefly fell below $83,000 before stabilizing near $84,500 amid rising bond yields.
• Ondo’s token reclaims $0.50 for the first time since December 2025 as BlackRock-backed Ondo Intelligent Portfolios launch on Ethereum and BNB Chain.
• The US 10-year Treasury yield climbs to 5.18%, its highest since July 2007, while the 30-year yield reaches 5.46%.

US 10-year Treasury gains 70 basis points this month, hits 5.18%

The US 10-year Treasury yield rose more than 4 basis points to 5.18% on Thursday, its highest level since July 2007, according to TradingView data. The 30-year yield hit 5.46%, reclaiming 2004 highs.

The climb came on the day the US Treasury was scheduled to buy back up to $6 billion in bonds maturing in roughly 20 to 30 years, part of an expanded program aimed at improving liquidity in long-dated debt markets.

International bond markets also weakened, while the Japanese yen (JPY) came under renewed pressure. Mohamed A. El-Erian, president of Queen’s College Cambridge, wrote on X: “Flying under many radars for now, but probably not for long: The Japanese Yen has weakened back to 159 per U.S. dollar (CNBC chart), approaching the established FX intervention zone.”

He continued: “This matters far beyond Japan for a key reason right now: Japanese foreign exchange intervention typically involves selling US securities to buy Yen, potentially adding yield pressures to an already sensitive Treasury market.”

Higher yields make government bonds more attractive and can weigh on non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin. Even so, BTC has extended its August rally, challenging bearish predictions tied to Bitcoin’s traditional four-year cycle.

ONDO token among top performers, reclaims $0.50 level

The tokenized real-world asset (RWA) token ONDO was among the top gainers in the last 24 hours and rose back to the psychological $0.5 level, according to CoinGecko data. 

Despite the recent failure of the CLARITY Act to pass through a procedural vote in the US Senate, the token managed to reclaim a level last traded in December 2025. 

Related: CLARITY vote failure could stoke more crypto PAC spending in key races

The rally came as BlackRock-backed Ondo Intelligent Portfolios launched on Thursday. While most RWA products focus on tokenizing individual stocks and commodities, the new offering allows non-US users to buy tokenized shares in diversified portfolios.

The tokens went live on Ethereum and BNB Chain, with settlement handled through CoW Protocol, CoW DAO said on X. The first three tokens track model portfolio strategies developed by BlackRock for Ondo: BLKHIon (High Income), BLKDIGon (Diversified Growth) and BLKGRWon (High Growth).