Salinas calls $1.86M Bitcoin as BTC holds $80,000 support

Bitcoin traded near $78,565 on Thursday, holding above the $78,000 support it defended after sellers rejected the token twice near $80,500 this month, as Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas published a forecast that Bitcoin could reach $1.86 million.

Salinas, the chairman of Grupo Salinas and one of Latin America's most prominent public Bitcoin holders, framed the target around the asset's fixed supply of 21 million coins and the steady erosion of fiat purchasing power. "Bitcoin is the hardest money ever created, and the printing presses never stop," Salinas said in the post accompanying the call.

The prediction lands on a tape that has not confirmed it. Bitcoin reached $82,283 on September 3, its highest level since the recovery began, before sellers pushed it back under $80,000, leaving the token down 8% year-to-date and 28% over twelve months. It remains roughly 37% below its October 2025 record of $126,198, and $87,500 — the level where it started 2026 — sits 11.4% above the current price. The coin has gained 23% since its August 8 low, more than double the climb that target now requires.

The gap between Salinas' long-horizon framing and the immediate price action is the story. A $1.86 million Bitcoin implies a market value roughly 24 times the asset's current capitalization, a claim that depends on a decade of monetary debasement rather than anything the market can price this quarter. What the market can price is the September 11 CPI print, and it is not pricing it kindly: fed funds futures put roughly a 60% chance on a Federal Reserve rate hike this month, a repricing that helped push Bitcoin from $82,283 to about $78,600 in the days after the stronger-than-expected jobs report.

Institutional flow is running the other way. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $986.9 million in the week ending September 4, according to SoSoValue, even as Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Hyperliquid products saw inflows fall between 73% and 96% over the same week. Bitcoin ETFs have held that pace for three straight weeks while the price consolidated below $82,000, which suggests the buying is not chasing new highs. Corporate treasuries added to it: Capital B, a French public company, bought 376 Bitcoin for about $29 million, lifting its holdings to 3,521 coins.

Bitcoin's share of total crypto market value sits near 59.2%, and altcoin open interest passed Bitcoin's for the first time since December 2024 earlier this month — a configuration that has historically preceded sharp corrections in smaller tokens. If that leverage unwinds, capital rotating back into Bitcoin would lift dominance further while altcoins absorb the losses.

The near-term test is mechanical. Bitcoin has failed twice near $80,500, and short-term whales hold $9.07 billion in unrealized profits, a ready source of selling if momentum stalls. A soft core inflation reading on September 11 would cut rate-hike odds and pull Treasury yields lower, the same dynamic that has moved Bitcoin by thousands of dollars in single sessions this year. A hot print sends it toward $78,000, with $77,200 as the next level down.

For Salinas, the call is consistent with a position he has held publicly for years, and its near-term market impact is limited unless it gains broader viral traction. For traders, the arithmetic is narrower: an 11.4% move to $87,500 before December 31 is well inside Bitcoin's normal range, but it requires clearing a level the token has not closed above since earlier this year while the market prices a rate hike. The prediction and the price are answering different questions.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.