Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse speaks at the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, USA on May 4, 2022.
Mike Blake | Reuters
The CEO of blockchain startup Ripple expects the combined market cap of the cryptocurrency market to exceed $5 trillion this year.
Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC that he expects the overall value of the crypto market to double, citing macroeconomic factors such as the launch of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as well as the upcoming so-called Bitcoin halving. “
“I’ve been in this industry for a long time and have seen these trends come and go,” Garlinghouse told CNBC. “I am very optimistic. I think the macro trends, the bigger picture, things like the ETFs, are driving real institutional money for the first time.”
“You see that this is driving demand, and at the same time demand is increasing while supply is decreasing,” Garlinghouse said. “You don’t have to be an economist to know what happens when supply constraints and demand increase.”
The first US spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on January 10th. They are traded on US exchanges and allow institutions and retail investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without directly owning the underlying asset.
The Bitcoin halving is a technical event that occurs approximately every four years in Bitcoin’s history. It halves the total mining reward for Bitcoin miners, who are volunteers on the Bitcoin network who use high-performance computers to verify transactions and mint new tokens.
The last event of this kind took place in 2020, with the next one scheduled to take place later this month.
“It is easy to predict that the total market cap of the crypto industry will double by the end of this year…” [as it’s] “We are influenced by all of these macro factors,” Garlinghouse said.
The total capitalization of the crypto market was around $2.6 trillion as of April 4th. Should the market double, this would mean a new total crypto market capitalization of $5.2 trillion.
Bitcoin is up more than 140% in the last 12 months.
It hit a record high of over $73,000 on March 13, according to data from CoinGecko. However, it has since fallen well below the $70,000 mark.
The world’s digital currency was the main token driving gains for the broader market.
Bitcoin accounts for approximately 49% of the total crypto market, with a market cap of $1.3 trillion as of April 1.
Positive signs for US crypto regulation
One of the other factors that will push the crypto market to new highs, according to Garlinghouse, is the possibility of positive regulatory momentum in the United States.
With this year being an election year, crypto advocates are optimistic that the next administration will be more accommodating towards the crypto industry with its policy focus.
The SEC, under its chairman Gary Gensler, has been aggressive in enforcing its actions against crypto companies, including Ripple itself.
The SEC has targeted Ripple with a securities lawsuit that alleges the company illegally sold XRP, a cryptocurrency with which Ripple is closely linked, in unregistered securities transactions. Ripple denies the claims and is fighting the lawsuit.
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“One of the things I want to say about the macroeconomic tailwinds for the industry: I think we’re going to get more clarity in the United States,” Garlinghouse said.
“The US is still the largest economy in the world and unfortunately one of the more hostile crypto markets. And I think that will change too.”
Garlinghouse isn’t the only crypto bull predicting outsized gains for the crypto market this year.
Marshall Beard, chief operating officer of US crypto exchange Gemini, told CNBC at a recent crypto conference in London that he expects the price of Bitcoin to rise to $150,000 this year.
“Everything has gone up so quickly this year already, there’s just a lot of activity, a lot of adoption, new regulation, ETFs, the halving, miners having to exit,” Beard told CNBC.
“There will be violent ups and downs until the new all-time high, which I believe will be $150,000,” Beard added. “It will probably happen this year. I think it’s happening so quickly… and I think the dynamics, the supply shock, are moving incredibly quickly.”
REGARD: Bitcoin serves different purposes for different people, says Anthony Pompliano
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2024-04-07 23:14:58
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