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Bitcoin price soars on $100k speculation as ETFs sustain crypto rally

Brian McGleenon
·4-min read
Children play by a Bitcoin sign at the Bitcoin Plaza, in Ilopango, El Salvador, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
Bitcoin is nearing its March all-time high of over $73,000. (REUTERS / Reuters)

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose over 5% in the past week to a high of $71,240 (£55,739) in early trading on Thursday, after an increase in exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows.

Other crypto tokens ether (ETH-USD) and solana (SOL-USD) increased by 3% and 4% respectively in the same period, according to Coingecko data.

Read more: What are bitcoin ETNs?

Galaxy Digital CEO and cryptocurrency billionaire, Michael Novogratz, told Bloomberg TV, that bitcoin could sail past $100,000 by the end of this year, if the digital asset's price breaks out above its March all-time high of $73,000 and politicians start looking more favourably towards crypto.

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"If we take out $73,000 in the next week or so, we're gonna end the year at $100,000. Somewhere around there or even higher," Novogratz said on Tuesday. The forecast suggests around a 40% gain from Wednesday's current price.

Novogratz added that he has been waiting for two factors to ignite a new rally for bitcoin. "More regulatory clarity, which I thought was a low probability at that point, and/or the Fed starting to move. We're getting the regulatory clarity, and even though it's not perfect, we got enough that people now realize this is coming," he added.

He said that political sentiment towards the crypto ecosystem in the US is changing due to lobbying efforts and the increasing role of crypto in election funding.

"The scale has gotten bigger. That's why the Democrats woke up. There's been about $150m on its way to $250m in these crypto Super PACs," he said.

Read more: How crypto's faster payment systems are influencing banks

According to a blog post on Monday, US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) has recently donated $25m to Fairshake’s PAC. The lobbying money is targeted at bolstering the campaigns of crypto-friendly congressional candidates in upcoming US state primaries. "Fairshake supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generation of the internet," the Fairshake website states.

Spot bitcoin ETFs in the US saw a total daily net inflow of over $488m on Wednesday. This marked the 17th consecutive day of net inflows for these funds, equalling the longest streak of positive flows seen earlier in the year. Fidelity’s (FBTC) led inflows with $221m, followed by BlackRock's (IBIT) with $155m, according to SoSoValue data.

Read more: What is a spot bitcoin ETF and why has it sparked a crypto rally?

Ark Invest and 21Shares’ (ARKB) drew in $71m, while bitcoin ETFs managed by VanEck and Invesco reported single-digit net inflows.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first US-listed ETFs to track bitcoin in January. Investors anticipate these financial products could open the gateway for mainstream capital to flood the crypto market.

Read more: What are bitcoin rune etchings?

Currently, finance interest in digital assets in the US seems favourable, with fund managers, such as BlackRock (BLK) and Franklin Templeton (BEN), increasing their allocations into the bitcoin via ETFs.

Asset manager VanEck has set a new price target for ether (ETH-USD), the native token of the Ethereum network, at $22,000 by 2030. This represents a significant increase from its level of around $3,845, as of the time of writing.

The global investment firm wrote in a recent report that ether could soar to the $20,000 mark because of its disruptive power and cash flow generated for token holders.

Read more: Bitcoin ETFs poised for US pension plan inflows, Standard Chartered analyst says

"Driven by a strong value proposition to entrepreneurs, the Ethereum network is likely to continue its rapid market share growth from traditional financial market participants and, increasingly, big tech. Should it do so while maintaining its dominant position among smart contract platforms, we see a credible path to $66bn in free cash flow to token holders supporting a $2.2tn asset or $22,000 per coin, by 2030," VanEck's report said.

Read more: Crypto live prices

The SEC approved ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on 23 May. Unlike bitcoin, however, ETFs, which started trading the day after their approval in January this year, the ether ETFs may not go live for trade on global exchanges for another few weeks or months.

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