Bitcoin 'Needs Buyers to Come Back' After CPI Data Triggers Slide to $73,000

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) missed Monday’s broad market rally, and SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom says it just needs buyers to show back up.

Rate Fears Kept Bitcoin on the Sidelines

Chalom told The Wolf Of All Streets Tuesday that hotter-than-expected October CPI data, with core inflation excluding food and energy at 0.3% against a 2% forecast, raises the odds of a December Fed hike rather than the cuts markets expected earlier this year. 

Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) remain highly sensitive to liquidity, he said, and tightening expectations combined with ETF outflows and fresh miner selling explain why crypto missed Monday’s bounce.

He pointed to a rough stretch for Bitcoin ETF flows:

• This marks the first of three years since launch with net negative flows.
• Each of the prior two years brought roughly $20 billion in gross inflows.
• Marathon Holdings alone has sold over $1 billion in Bitcoin recently, with plans to keep selling.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Still Belong in the Core Portfolio

Currency debasement and deficit spending aren’t reversing regardless of who holds power in Washington, Chalom argued, which keeps Bitcoin a core holding no matter the short-term price action. 

He sees tokenization as the bigger opportunity ahead: just $40 billion in tokenized real-world assets exist today against a global equity market worth roughly $150 trillion, which he called "batting practice" rather than even the first inning.

He pushed back on fears that an AI bubble could drag crypto down too, arguing major AI companies generate real revenue unlike speculative dot-com firms. 

Data center buildouts already underway can’t easily reverse, he said, and AI-driven productivity gains should support risk assets rather than threaten them. 

He named Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and real estate as the scarce assets best positioned to hold value as AI reshapes labor markets.

Apathy, Not Selling, Is the Real Problem

Fellow panelist Andrew pointed to VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF, one of the largest issuers in the industry, seeing zero inflows and zero outflows for roughly three weeks straight. 

That’s not bearish positioning, he said, it’s apathy, and apathy is what’s capping Bitcoin’s upside right now, not active selling.

He called Bitcoin’s months-long consolidation between $65,000 and $85,000 accumulation rather than distribution, with institutions still quietly building infrastructure underneath flat retail interest. 

Until that retail appetite returns, he said, meaningful upside stays hard to come by.

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