The rise of Bitcoin ETFs and a closely watched "halving" event coming soon have Bitcoin bulls as optimistic as ever
Bitcoin soared to the moon, and it looks like it’s going to stay there for a while. The flagship cryptocurrency has spurred a bullish trend across the crypto market and successfully bridged the gap between the traditional and crypto investment industries by entering the ETFs market.
Will the rally come to an end soon?
Not according to one of the biggest Bitcoin boosters of them all.
Bitcoin enthusiasts have always been bullish about its growth, and now some of them hope it will reach a whopping $100,000 soon.
Adam Back, a prominent figure in the crypto world and one of the earliest cypherpunks who helped establish Bitcoin’s ideological foundation, believes that Bitcoin’s rise to the $100,000-mark is long overdue.
‘‘Bitcoin tapped $73k tuesday,” Back said Wednesday on the social media site X $TWTR. “No one said anything. Spent much of wednesday above $73k. I think the reason things are muted is that $100k seems way overdue, for a few years now, so there’s not much bull market euphoria as the $1-5k green candles scroll by. Just tick tock $100k.’’
The approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. and the recent green light from the U.K. on listing some Bitcoin-linked securities on the stock market have sent Bitcoin prices skyrocketing. And Bitcoin’s upcoming so-called “halving” event in April, in which Bitcoin’s mining reward is cut in half, is set to push prices even higher.
Read more: 5 ‘altcoins’ riding the Bitcoin wave
Crypto expert Noelle Acheson, author of the “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter, said the rally won’t end anytime soon. “We’re not yet seeing top-of-market hype, retail froth is just getting started, the education and acceptance is ramping up fast, and the macro case going forward is supportive,” she said in an email. “If previous patterns hold, the top will come many months after the halving and only after expectations are even more bullish than today.”
Other than the boom in the crypto market, dilution of fiat currencies and the upcoming U.S. elections will also have an impact on Bitcoin prices , she said.
Bitcoin has gained momentum after a long dry spell. The past few years were marked by the collapse of FTX, the arrest of its disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), cryptocurrency bank failures, and a bloodbath across the crypto market. Over the past few years, many crypto enthusiasts lost trust in blockchain technology due to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s money laundering case and the extradition of former cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon.
But does this mean that the worst has passed for the crypto world? Acheson doesn’t think so.
“There are still some issues outstanding and perhaps a couple more surprises ahead, and the current regulatory chill in the U.S. is a constant reminder of the [Biden] administration’s embarrassment at having initially treated SBF as an ally,” she said.
But the market has moved on. Acheson said past events have highlighted the need for better regulation and made the crypto world wiser and more careful.
“‘Rather than a ‘new beginning,’ what we’re seeing now is a continuation of the crypto market’s evolution, with technological advances, growing institutional support, and (slowly) advancing regulatory clarity helping to consolidate its role in the financial landscape,” she said.
Bitcoin prices were up 2% Thursday afternoon to about $70,000.
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
