Head of Research at FS Insight, Tom Lee, predicts that Bitcoin's network value and scarcity could push its price over $200,000, while other experts, including Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, also foresee significant growth for the cryptocurrency. Lee highlights Bitcoin's resilience and regulatory scrutiny as well as interest from traditional financial giants such as BlackRock and Citadel.
Ark Invest and 21Shares have filed with the SEC to introduce an Ethereum Futures ETF, while the approval for their collaborative Bitcoin ETF remains pending.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicts that the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies will increase by over 2,100% in less than seven years, driven by institutional investment and the potential approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), with the total crypto market cap potentially reaching $25 trillion by 2030.
CME's Bitcoin futures market has become the second-largest trading platform, with open interest reaching $2.24 billion, as it remains unaffected by price drops and offers monthly cash-settled contracts that differ from perpetual contracts on crypto exchanges. However, the trading dynamics and pricing mechanism of CME's Bitcoin futures do not flawlessly mirror Bitcoin's price movements on crypto exchanges.
The price of bitcoin briefly rose above $25,900 after the FASB approved favorable accounting treatment for companies holding crypto on their balance sheets and ARK Invest submitted paperwork for a spot ether ETF, but quickly returned to its previous level.
ARK Invest, an asset management firm, has highlighted several economic challenges that could arise for the remainder of 2023, despite the bullish sentiment in the equities markets, including interest rates, GDP estimates, unemployment, and inflation, which may affect the path of Bitcoin's bull run.
Ethereum is predicted to experience a surge in prices by the end of the year, with the leading smart contract protocol potentially reaching as high as $2,000, according to crypto strategist Inmortal, who also believes Bitcoin will rally back to its resistance at $27,300. Additionally, Inmortal is keeping a close watch on Radix (XRD) as it gears up for its mainnet launch of the Babylon upgrade.
Bitcoin's price has increased by 60% since the beginning of the year, reaching $26,972, while Ethereum's price has risen by 40% and now trades at $1,672; the approval of VanEck's Ethereum Futures ETF likely contributed to the recent boost in Ethereum's price.
Bitcoin surged over $28,000, experiencing a sudden spike and potentially driven by a short squeeze in the futures market, while Ethereum also rose above $1,700 for the first time in five weeks, contributing to a positive overall sentiment in the crypto market.
The price of Ethereum's native token, Ether (ETH), has struggled to surpass $2,000 due to factors such as a bear cycle fractal, a stronger U.S. dollar, underperformance compared to Bitcoin, a decline in Ethereum network activity, and a drop in NFT volumes and unique active wallets.
The ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict and a significant ether (ETH) sale by the Ethereum Foundation led to a 2% slide in the crypto markets, with over $100 million in futures positions evaporating, although bitcoin remained relatively stable.
Improving efficiency and increased demand for Ethereum will lead to a potential rise in the price of ether to $8,000 by the end of 2026, according to Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick, with a long-term valuation of $26,000-$35,000. The forecast is based on expected improvements to the Ethereum blockchain, the growth of NFT transactions, the development of blockchain gaming, real-world asset tokenization, and positive regulatory developments.
