Bitcoin Plunges to $78,000 After Jackson Hole but Crypto Bulls Stay Upbeat

Bitcoin was rejected at $80,000 and is trading around $78,000 following Kevin Warsh’s speech at Jackson Hole.Yet, Bankless host Ryan Sean Adams and venture capitalist Haseeb Qureshi say the rally may have more room to run.Their bull case rests on crypto sellers appearing exhausted, while Treasury actions aimed at lowering long-term yields revives the so-called debasement trade."Crypto is intrinsically reflexive," Qureshi said on the podcast on Thursday. "Upward moves breed upward moves."Why Bitcoin Is MovingQureshi said the move began with macro, but it is now being reinforced by market positioning.He sees Bitcoin’s late-June low near $58,000 as likely the cycle bottom.Still, he said options markets imply a wide year-end range, with Bitcoin potentially reaching $100,000 or revisiting the low-$60,000 area.Qureshi also commented on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s effort to contain rising long-term Treasury yields.He said the purchases are too small to materially reshape the massive Treasury market.But they carry an important message: Washington is increasingly concerned about the cost of funding U.S. debt."The real problem is that the debt is too high and the deficit shows no signs of going down," he said.AI Spending Is Competing With U.S. DebtOn AI, Qureshi said hyperscalers including Amazon, Meta and other major technology companies are issuing more debt to fund AI infrastructure and data centers.That could crowd out demand for long-dated Treasuries.Investors now have a tougher choice: buy long-term U.S. government debt, or lend to large technology companies with strong cash flows and potentially higher returns from AI investment.That competition, Qureshi said, makes the 30-year Treasury yield "a main character" for markets.Bitcoin can benefit from this macro backdrop in two ways.First, Treasury intervention and worries about U.S. fiscal policy strengthen Bitcoin’s gold-like, debasement-hedge narrative.Second, if policymakers shift funding toward shorter-term debt or otherwise increase system liquidity, that can help risk assets. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies tend to respond strongly when liquidity expands."Both aspects of Bitcoin are being buoyed in the story," Qureshi said.Tokenized Stocks: Long-Term Opportunity, Not Immediate BreakoutThe hosts were less bullish on tokenized equities as a near-term crypto catalyst.Coinbase ) and other platforms are expanding access to blockchain-based stock exposure, but Qureshi said the market remains small and fragmented.Many stock tokens are structured as synthetic or debt-like instruments rather than direct ownership of the underlying shares.Liquidity is also a major problem.Qureshi cited reports of traders seeing steep slippage when attempting to buy tokenized Nvidia exposure. He said on-chain traders currently show more demand for perpetual futures and high-leverage products than for simple stock ownership."Feature parity is a defensive move, not an offensive move," he said.Still, he expects tokenized stocks to grow over time as fintech platforms offer international users access to dollar savings, U.S. equities and crypto in one account.Image: Shutterstock