Bitcoin Back at $86,000: Tom Lee and iTrustCapital Say Worst Is Over

Bitcoin traded at $86,423 on Tuesday, up from below $76,000 a week ago. Two prominent voices — Fundstrat Capital chief investment officer Tom Lee and iTrustCapital CEO Kevin Maloney — say the worst is now behind investors.

Their calls follow two setbacks in a single week: a US interest rate hike and the failed CLARITY Act crypto bill. Neither event stopped the pioneer cryptocurrency's rebound.

iTrustCapital CEO Declares the Crypto Winter Over

Maloney runs iTrustCapital, a platform for crypto and stock investing in retirement accounts. In an interview with Paul Barron, he said the long crypto slump, often called the "crypto winter," had ended.

His firm was holding about $350 million in idle client cash, Maloney said. He added that "significant portions" were now being invested again.

"Bitcoin doesn't need Clarity Act," Maloney said in the interview.

Maloney also named a level to watch. A weekly close above $85,000, he said, would leave Bitcoin in a good position.

Tom Lee: The Fed Cannot Get More Hawkish

Elsewhere, Tom Lee sees the rate hike as a peak, not the start of a squeeze. He has made that call repeatedly this month.

In his weekly update, Lee pointed to a change in how the government measures inflation, due September 30. He said economists expect the revision to cut the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation rate, the Fed's preferred gauge, from 3.4% to near 3%.

"They can't get any more hawkish than this," Tom Lee stated.

Lee added that even one more 0.25-point hike would not break the economy or the stock market.

Two Setbacks in One Week

On September 15, the CLARITY Act failed a Senate procedural vote 50-49, short of the 60 votes needed. The bill would have set out which US regulator oversees digital assets.

A day later, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points to a range of 3.75% to 4%. It was the first increase since 2023. Bitcoin slipped below $76,000 after the vote. It has since recovered.

Fed Projections and ETF Outflows Point the Other Way

Not every signal agrees. Sixteen of 18 Fed officials expect another hike this year, according to the central bank's projections.

Investors also pulled $450 million from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on September 15, according to ETF fund flow figures.

Bitcoin sits 0.6% higher on the day, BeInCrypto price data shows. The next test arrives September 30, when the revised inflation figures land — a print that will either validate Lee's call for a softer Fed or hand hawks another argument.