03/11 update below. This post was originally published on March 10
Bitcoin
BTC
BTC
has rocketed over $70,000 per bitcoin, climbing toward fresh all-time highs as Wall Street quietly eyes a $90 trillion earthquake.
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The bitcoin price has rocketed 350% since crashing to recent lows of $15,000 in late 2022, with traders setting a massive new bitcoin price target in recent weeks that could hit sooner than you think.
Now, as China and Russia reveal they’re abandoning the U.S. dollar for a bitcoin-inspired alternative, a Silicon Valley venture capital investor has declared bitcoin is at a “tipping point”—and could be about to open the ethereum, XRP
XRP
XRP
and crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) floodgates.
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Former U.S. president Donald Trump has changed his tune on bitcoin, flipping from comments in which … [+] he branded bitcoin a scam in 2019 when its price was under $10,000.
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“We’re going to get to a tipping point where everybody really talks about this,” Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist, former Facebook (now Meta) executive and early bitcoin investor who claims to have first bought bitcoin in 2010, said on the All In podcast alongside fellow investors Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg.
“I still don’t think we are there yet. I think we’re just at the beginning, but when you see the inflows into these ETFs, it’s a very big deal because it just allows every mom-and-pop individual to buy some to the extent that they want to own or they want to speculate on it, whatever it is.”
03/11 update: Former U.S. president and Republican front runner in this year’s race for the White House Donald Trump has suddenly changed his tune on bitcoin, calling it an “additional form of currency” in an appearance on CNBC.
“There has been a lot of use of that [bitcoin] and I’m not sure that I would want to take it away at this point,” Trump said. In 2019, when the bitcoin price was under $10,000 per bitcoin, Trump said he wasn’t a fan of bitcoin. Then in 2021 called bitcoin a “scam” that threatened the U.S. dollar.
Over the last couple of years Trump has embraced ethereum via his non-fungible token (NFT) digital trading card collection, while rival-turned-supporter Vivek Ramaswamy has been credited with convincing Trump he should oppose a digital dollar, also known as a central bank digital currency (CBDC) .
The bitcoin price has rocketed to a fresh peak of $71,500 per bitcoin this morning, raising hopes a huge new bitcoin price target could be in reach sooner than thought .
“After breaching its all-time high we now expect bitcoin to trade at even higher numbers in the run up to the halving event in April,” Ed Hindi, chief investment officer at Tyr Capital, said in emailed comments. “Provided U.S. spot bitcoin ETF flows remain strong $100,000 for bitcoin in 2024 is not out of reach.”
Last week, Alex Adelman, the chief executive of bitcoin rewards app Lolli, said he thought it’s possible the bitcoin price hits $100,000 around the upcoming bitcoin supply cut known as a halving event.
“Following the halving, increased scarcity coupled with strong demand from retail and institutional investors will likely push bitcoin’s price even higher,” Adelman said. “Based on historical trends following the halving, bitcoin’s price could top $150,000 in the next year.”
The fleet of new spot bitcoin ETFs have taken Wall Street by storm over the last two months, with BlackRock’s
BLK
BLK
IBIT becoming the fastest ETF to hit $10 billion in assets under management this week.
Other bitcoin and crypto market watchers have made similar predictions.
“After $70,000 is breached, the next natural target is $100,000 and, if history rhymes, we could see bitcoin testing the $200,000 to $300,000 range throughout 2025, when—as we’ve seen in the past—another correction will be triggered and will lead to, hopefully, a higher price than where we are today,” Samir Kerbage, chief investment officer at Hashdex, said in emailed comments.
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The bitcoin price has now recovered completely from its 2022 price crash, topping its previous … [+] all-time high to climb over $70,000 per bitcoin.
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The rush to buy spot bitcoin ETFs has fueled speculation that ethereum, XRP and other major cryptocurrencies could get ETFs of their own in coming months.
“I think it’s been a very big year, and I think that psychologically it’s proven a lot of folks wrong, and it’s a setup for something really constructive,” Palihapitiya said.
“The other thing I’ll say is that it’s not just bitcoin but as goes bitcoin, there are a handful of other things. People are now speculating that there’s going to be an ethereum ETF that gets approved as well because if you approve one, there’s probably legitimate cause to approve a few others, so these things are becoming part of the financial fabric, and I think that that should not be underestimated.”
Last year, Palihapitiya declared the bitcoin and crypto industry was “dead in America”—warning regulators are coming for crypto companies like Coinbase.
