Bitwise predicts that in 2024, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) will surpass $80,000. This forecast follows an outstanding 2023 performance. With a 128% increase, bitcoin has surpassed other major asset classes, outperforming the S&P 500, gold, and even bonds.
Bitwise’s Ryan Rasmussen published 10 optimistic predictions for the cryptocurrency market in 2024 on X (previously Twitter) on December 13. The rapid expansion of the stablecoin market was one of the main themes of his post.
Bitcoin’s Potential Triggers: ETF And Halving
We expect two significant triggers to drive the value of Bitcoin in the upcoming year. The first is the anticipated early 2024 release of a spot Bitcoin ETF, which may draw in a large influx of fresh funding from institutional and retail investors alike.
Prediction #1: Bitcoin will trade above $80,000, setting a new all-time high.
There are two major catalysts that will help get us there: the anticipated launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF in early 2024 and the halving of new bitcoin supply around the end of April. pic.twitter.com/KvHNx9XINz
— Ryan Rasmussen (@RasterlyRock) December 13, 2023
The second is the looming April or May 2024 Bitcoin halving event, which would halve the annual amount of new Bitcoin that enters the market, so lowering the supply by an amount equal to $6.2 billion at present rates.
Speculations abound that BTC markets might see an influx of as much as $100 billion following regulatory approvals. Discussing the potential impact of such a substantial sum entering the markets, ETF analyst James Seyffart expressed skepticism, deeming it an “overestimation of demand.”
Bitcoin slightly below the $43K level today. Chart: TradingView.com
To contextualize, Seyffart pointed out that gold ETFs, which have been present in the U.S. since 2004, currently boast approximately $95 billion in assets.
According to another Bitwise forecast, Coinbase’s income will double and surpass Wall Street estimates by a minimum of ten times.
This expectation is based on past trends, which show that Coinbase sees higher trade volumes during periods of bull market.
Source: Bitwise Asset Management with data from Coin Metrics and Visa.
More Predictions From Bitwise
The forecast made in the thread that follows is that stablecoins will be used to settle more financial transactions than Visa.
The market capitalization of stablecoins, which are tethered to a variety of assets, including the US dollar, has surged from almost nothing to $137 billion over the last four years.
Analysts see this growth trend to continue, with stablecoins growing in importance and volume of trade.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that over the next few years, as investors look for the security of digital dollars with internet connectivity, the demand for stablecoins will soar in an interview with CNBC on December 13.
Additionally, Bitwise anticipates substantial developments in the tokenization of real-world assets, predicting that JPMorgan may tokenize a fund on-chain as the market for tokenized assets grows rapidly.
Bitwise is the world’s largest crypto index fund manager. It is one of the 13 financial institutions that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has received applications from for an authorized spot Bitcoin ETF.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $42,856, up 4% in the last 24 hours, data from CoinMarketCap shows.
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