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Jason Calacanis urged bitcoin holders to sell on Tuesday, forecasting that the asset will revisit $57,000 within 12 months and declaring it will never again set a record high, according to News.bitcoin. Bitcoin was trading between about $79,600 and $80,000 when he posted, putting his target roughly 28% lower.
The investor and All-In podcast co-host made the case on X, where he wrote that “a brutal year for bitcoin is just getting started” and offered to explain “why you should dump it now.” Cryptobriefing reported that the call also included the claim that bitcoin will never again reach its all-time high, a structural argument rather than a short-term trade.
Also read: Hayes: AI bubble burst and bailout could lift bitcoin
Key facts
- Calacanis set a $57,000 target within 12 months, a potential 28% decline from prices near $80,000 when he published on October 27, 2026.
- He cited roughly $774 million in spot bitcoin ETF outflows over two trading sessions late last week, followed by about $110 million returning Monday.
- He said he remains long Bittensor’s TAO token, a bet on AI infrastructure, according to Cryptobriefing.
- Strategy founder Michael Saylor replied that “AI creates abundance” while “Bitcoin enforces scarcity” and that the two are complementary.
- Bitcoin advocate Dan Held challenged him over a 2018 call, asking whether listening then would have cost followers a 14x return.
The case against bitcoin’s store-of-value role
Calacanis framed his argument around capital allocation more than price. Bitcoin, he said, offers nothing beyond a store of value, asking why investors would put resources into what he called a “dead network.” Cryptobriefing noted that the label described an asset he views as losing vitality, not a claim that the network has stopped functioning. He argued that AI and what he termed “super intelligence” offer unlimited upside by comparison and have captured the capital that once flowed into crypto speculation.
His preference inside crypto is Bittensor, a network that rewards contributors who supply computing power and other services used to build AI systems. Cryptobriefing reported that Calacanis has made this pitch before: in 2023 he advised crypto founders to pivot toward artificial intelligence, a message aimed at builders rather than investors. The 2026 version comes with a specific price target attached.
Also read: Saylor Says Bitcoin Bull Run Is Early, Eyes $100K
ETF flows give a mixed signal
The forecast leans on outflows from US spot bitcoin ETFs, which Calacanis called a signal that institutional appetite is fading. The flow data has not moved in one direction, though. News.bitcoin reported roughly $774 million leaving over two trading sessions late last week before about $110 million returned Monday, while Cryptobriefing noted the outflows landed alongside a $110 million inflow into those products. News.bitcoin attributed that inflow to Blackrock’s IBIT.
Bitcoiners push back
Responses from bitcoin advocates were swift. Saylor argued the two technologies serve different purposes, describing digital intelligence and digital capital as complementary. Held raised Calacanis’s history on the asset.
That history is long. Calacanis has disclosed buying bitcoin at $100 to $200 and has been skeptical for nearly a decade. In 2018 he gave the asset a substantial chance of falling to zero; by May 2019 he predicted it would trade between zero and $500. By late 2024 he had described bitcoin as too big to fail and cut his estimate of total failure to under 5%. News.bitcoin noted the remarks followed a similarly bearish take from fellow All-In co-host Chamath Palihapitiya, who has argued AI could eventually compromise bitcoin’s software.
Why it matters
A public call to exit an asset from a well-known early-stage investor reaches a large audience, and the $57,000 figure is a retest of a level bitcoin already touched in 2026 rather than a forecast of a new low, as Cryptobriefing pointed out. The bolder claim is that the all-time high will never be broken, which runs directly against the conviction among long-term holders that each cycle brings fresh peaks. For readers weighing the two sides, the dispute is less about a number than about whether bitcoin’s scarcity is a durable investment case or a feature that AI-era capital no longer prizes.
This is not financial advice, and cryptocurrency markets are volatile and uncertain; forecasts such as this one are one investor’s opinion and may not prove correct.
What to watch
Daily spot bitcoin ETF flows will show whether the outflow trend Calacanis described persists or whether inflows become the norm. The $57,000 level itself is the benchmark: a return there inside his 12-month window would move the post from provocation to forecast. Whether AI-linked tokens such as TAO keep drawing capital that might otherwise have gone to bitcoin is the third signal to track.
Reported by news.bitcoin.com.
Sources: Bitcoin.com News, Cryptobriefing