Earlier this week, ETFs saw their strongest buying activity since early June, when the price of the primary cryptocurrency surpassed $73,000.
In an interview with Investing.com, Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ:) CEO Sam Tabar shared his thoughts on the positive reception to the 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. He also discussed the upcoming US election, Bitcoin price forecast, and more.
ETFs have made progress
The head of a sustainable bitcoin mining company (BTBT) said he was “generally pleased” that these ETFs allowed a fresh group of individuals and entities to gain exposure to the underlying asset.
“These were some of the most successful ETF launches in history and will account for the majority of new ETF inflows in 2024,” Tabar said.
“This shows that there was a huge demand for exposure to digital assets among entities that were previously restricted for various reasons.”
The mighty inflows come as Bitcoin has come under intense selling pressure from multiple sources, including payments related to shuttered cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, and the German government has been pouring hundreds of millions of BTC into exchanges. Some investors may see the drop as a buying opportunity.
Leading the inflows was BlackRock (NYSE:) IBIT, which saw $121 million, bringing its total net inflow to over $18 billion. Fidelity FBTC came in second with $91 million, bringing its total inflow to $9.5 billion. ARKB ARK received $43.3 million, bringing its total net inflow to $2.5 billion.
However, Grayscale GBTC saw an outflow of $37.5 million, and Bitwise saw an outflow of $4.7 million. Overall, the total inflow into the Bitcoin ETF now stands at $15.3 billion.
Biden vs. Trump
On the topic of the Biden vs. Trump presidential race and its impact on cryptocurrency regulation, Tabar mentioned that Trump is generally perceived as a pro-crypto candidate, which could be more beneficial for the industry.
Tabar noted the two candidates’ differing positions. “I think the general consensus is that Trump is a pro-crypto candidate and would ultimately be a more favorable policymaker toward cryptocurrencies,” he explained.
“In politics, it’s often hard to predict what campaign issues will ultimately play out if a particular candidate is elected. It’s worth noting that cryptocurrencies weren’t even brought up in the first debate.”
Tabar also noted the contrasting approaches of the current administration and Trump.
“The Biden administration has previously proposed a potential bitcoin mining tax that could devastate the domestic industry, while Trump has said he wants all future bitcoin to be mined in the U.S.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has promised to ease regulations on cryptocurrencies if elected in November and “get out of the way of innovation.”
Trump has pivoted from a cryptocurrency skeptic to a cryptocurrency advocate, capitalizing on frustration within the cryptocurrency community. This shift appears to be gaining him support among a compact but vocal cryptocurrency following.
Yet neither Biden nor Trump mentioned cryptocurrencies during the 90-minute debate, despite a massive fundraising push by cryptocurrency lobbyists this election cycle.
Despite three cryptocurrency-backed super PACs raising $202.8 million from industry donors and spending $93.6 million to influence the 2024 election, the cryptocurrency sector was not front and center in the CNN debate.
Interestingly, crypto billionaire Michael Novogratz has joined a coalition of top business leaders in the campaign calling on President Joe Biden to reconsider his re-election bid.
Bitcoin Price Forecast
Experts are fiercely debating Bitcoin’s long-term prospects based on three factors: its role as a store of value, a currency, and a technology.
Discussing a realistic price target for bitcoin by the end of the decade, Tabar explained that he believes “the long-term trend is higher. We expect cyclical fluctuations in the short term, but we see long-term structural growth given generational normalization of the asset.”
Interestingly, Tabar expects investors will soon prefer to trade digital gold over real gold. “I think Bitcoin will eventually surpass the gold market in terms of value,” he said.
He mentioned that while he wouldn’t be surprised if Bitcoin hit $1 million, predicting an exact timeline and trajectory is arduous. To mitigate the risk of volatility, Bit Digital installed an HPC company that is not correlated with the price of Bitcoin.
“We now have a steady, cash-flow-generating business that allows us to enjoy the structural growth of Bitcoin over the long term, without waking up in a cold sweat every night when the price of Bitcoin drops to a certain level,” Tabar concluded.
