Industry executives hailed the beginning of a new bull market, with an increasing number of voices predicting new all-time highs for Bitcoin above $100,000 in 2024.
This year, Bitcoin has increased in value by over 120%, and many people are optimistic that this trend will continue until 2024.
According to Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier, “It seems like 2023 was a year to prepare for the upcoming Bull Run. However, the mood is extremely optimistic for 2024 and 2025.”
November 2021 saw the digital currency reach its most recent record high of almost $6900.
Since then, a long list of problems has plagued the cryptocurrency sector, including bankruptcies, criminal prosecutions, and the collapse of coins and projects. After being found guilty on seven counts of criminal fraud, FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, faced over 100 years in prison when the exchange collapsed. FTX was once among the largest exchanges in the world.
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, entered a guilty plea to criminal charges and resigned from his position as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice.
Many in the sector believe that the resolution of the two cases marks the end of problems that have beset the cryptocurrency market.
“Instead of just having a giant digital casino for people to trade, I think that once you get the speculative phase out of the way—which I think we’re almost done with, probably not quite done—you can get real builders focusing on the technology and the problems that can solve in the world,” stated David Marcus, CEO of Lightspark.
Marcus, the former head of Facebook’s doomed Diem stablecoin initiative, is currently developing technology to enhance the payments network of Bitcoin.
With those matters resolved, investors are concentrating on what the industry views as encouraging advancements. First, there’s the increasing anticipation that a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, or ETF, will soon be approved. Larger traditional investors who had previously expressed no interest in cryptocurrency may now become interested.
According to Gauthier, “I believe the ETF signifies that Bitcoin is going mainstream, and that’s what people have been waiting for.”
