2024: the year of bitcoin. again
Yes, I know, I’ve said that every year since 2016 and, even though my meagre stash’s value is half of what it once was, I remain a firm believer. Admittedly, any speculation on cryptos remains risky but several of you have asked whether or not the recent US announcement of Bitcoin EFTs removes any of the uncertainty associated with the coins.
Notwithstanding the high-profile collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s $32bn FTX crypto exchange and associated crypto lender BlockFi, the price of a Bitcoin rose by 155% to more than $42,000 during last year, partly driven by the expectation that the US financial regulator would eventually give the thumbs-up to the creation of exchange-traded funds (EFTs) and hence, a more concrete seal of approval to the crypto market. The eventful day finally came earlier this month and witnessed $4.6bn worth of shares change hand as investors and speculators weighed-up the relative merits of the new EFT products being pedaled by the likes of Invesco, Fidelity and George’s Osborne’s $17,000/day employer, BlackRock.
A milestone day for sure but what of the price? It fell! Doh.
Bitcoin’s long and unpredictable route to stock market acceptance has dramatically changed the founding tenet that it was to operate outside the control of divisive investment bankers and egocentric currency speculators. Unable to either break or control it, the mainstream financial system is clearly planning to adopt it as its own. Probably the most visible and vocal of detractors, Larry Fink, has now accumulated one of the largest troves in the world of 11,500 coins and now seeks to push EFTs as the go-to investment vehicle of the boomer generation. Currently unavailable in the UK, analysts are predicting an overall 2024 market of $100bn with a subsequent Bitcoin price hike of $100,000.
Crypto currencies generally, and Bitcoin specifically, should no longer be viewed as a ‘thing’ but as network and a platform for development. Yes, undoubtedly the majority of current crypto projects will probably amount to nowt, as in the dotcom boom of the 90s, but there will be Googles, Apples, Facebooks and Amazons in the mix. The roller-coast risks remain evident but there will be nuggets in there.
Who knows whether these institutional firms are really going to hitch their wagons to a traditionally volatile entity but there’s one thing you can be sure of: according to me, 2025 will be the year of Bitcoin!
