Earlier this week, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw their highest buying activity since early June, when the original cryptocurrency traded above $73,000.
In an interview with Investing.com, Bit Digital CEO Sam Tabar shared his thoughts on the positive reception of the 10 recently approved Bitcoin spot ETFs. He also discussed the upcoming US elections, Bitcoin price forecast, and more.
ETFs are making progress
The head of sustainability-focused bitcoin mining firm (BTBT) said he was “generally pleased” that these ETFs have allowed a new subset of people and entities to gain exposure to the underlying assets.
“These have been some of the most successful ETF launches in history and have accounted for the majority of new ETF flows in 2024,” Tabar said.
“This shows that there was a huge appetite for exposure to digital assets from entities that were previously restricted for whatever reason.”
Strong capital inflows are occurring as Bitcoin came under heavy selling pressure from multiple sources, including refunds related to the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox and the German government transferring hundreds of millions of BTC to exchanges. Some investors might see this drop as a buying opportunity.
Leading the inflows was BlackRock (NYSE:) IBIT, which saw $121 million in inflows, bringing its total net inflows to over $18 billion. Fidelity FBTC followed with $91 million in inflows, increasing its total to $9.5 billion. ARK’s ARKB received $43.3 million, bringing its total net inflows to $2.5 billion.
However, Grayscale GBTC saw an outflow of $37.5 million and Bitwise an outflow of $4.7 million. Overall, total inflows into Bitcoin ETFs now stand at $15.3 billion.
Biden vs Trump
On the topic of the Biden vs. Trump presidential race and its implications for cryptocurrency regulations, Tabar mentioned that Trump is generally perceived as the pro-crypto candidate, which could be more favorable for the industry.
Tabar highlighted the different stances of the two candidates. “I think the general consensus is that Trump is the pro-crypto candidate and would ultimately be responsible for the most crypto-friendly policies,” he explained.
“In politics, it's often difficult to predict what campaign issues will ultimately come to fruition if a particular candidate is elected. It's worth noting that cryptocurrencies weren't even addressed during the first debate.”
Tabar also highlighted the contrasting approaches of the current administration and Trump.
“The Biden administration has previously proposed a potential tax on bitcoin mining, which could devastate the domestic industry, while Trump has said he wants all future bitcoins to be mined in the United States.”
The likely Republican presidential nominee has vowed to ease cryptocurrency regulations if elected in November and “not hinder innovation.”
Trump has shifted from cryptocurrency skeptic to cryptocurrency advocate, capitalizing on frustration within the crypto community. This shift appears to be winning him support among small but vocal cryptocurrency advocates.
However, in a 90-minute debate, neither Biden nor Trump mentioned cryptocurrencies, despite massive fundraising by cryptocurrency lobbyists for this election cycle.
Despite three cryptocurrency-backed super political action committees (PACs) raising $202.8 million from industry backers and spending $93.6 million to influence the 2024 election, the cryptocurrency sector received no attention in the CNN debate.
Interestingly, cryptocurrency billionaire Michael Novogratz has joined a coalition of top business leaders in a campaign to urge President Joe Biden to reconsider his re-election bid.
Bitcoin Price Forecast
Experts are intensely debating Bitcoin's long-term prospects, considering three factors: its role as a store of value, currency or technology.
Speaking about the realistic Bitcoin price target for the end of the decade, Tabar explained that he believes “the long-term trend is bullish. We expect short-term cyclical swings, but see long-term structural upside given the generational normalization of the asset.”
Interestingly, Tabar expects investors to soon prefer trading in digital gold instead of real gold. “I think Bitcoin will eventually overtake the gold market in value,” he said.
He mentioned that while he wouldn’t be surprised to see Bitcoin hit $1 million, predicting the exact timeline and trajectory is challenging. To mitigate volatility risk, Bit Digital has set up an HPC business that is not correlated to the price of Bitcoin.
“We now have a business that produces a stable cash flow that allows us to enjoy the structural benefit of Bitcoin in the long term without having to wake up in a cold sweat every night when the price of Bitcoin drops to a certain level,” Tabar concluded.
