Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, speaks on the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 4, 2022.
Mike Blake | Reuters
The CEO of blockchain startup Ripple sees the combined market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market topping $5 trillion this yr.
Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC he expects the whole value of the crypto market to double, citing macro aspects including the arrival of the primary U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, in addition to the upcoming so-called bitcoin “halving.”
“I have been around this industry for a very long time, and I’ve seen these trends come and go,” Garlinghouse told CNBC. “I’m very optimistic. I feel the macro trends, the big-picture things just like the ETFs, they’re driving for the primary time real institutional money.”
“You are seeing that drives demand, and at the identical time demand is increasing, supply is decreasing,” Garlinghouse said. “That does not take an economics major to inform you what happens when supply contracts and demand expands.”
The primary U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs were approved on Jan. 10 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They trade on U.S. stock exchanges and permit institutions and retail investors to gain exposure to bitcoin without directly owning the underlying asset.
The bitcoin halving is a technical event that takes place roughly every 4 years in bitcoin’s history. It halves the whole mining reward to bitcoin miners, that are volunteers on the bitcoin network who use high-powered computers to confirm transactions and mint latest tokens.
The last such event took place in 2020, and the subsequent one is slated to occur later this month.
“The general market cap of the crypto industry … is definitely predicted to double by the tip of this yr … [as it’s] impacted by all of those macro aspects,” Garlinghouse said.
The whole crypto market capitalization was roughly $2.6 trillion as of April 4. If the market were to double, that will imply a latest total crypto market cap of $5.2 trillion.
Bitcoin has risen greater than 140% in the last 12 months.
It hit a record high above $73,000 on March 13, according to CoinGecko data. It has since fallen well below the $70,000 level, nevertheless.
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The world’s digital currency has been the primary token driving gains for the broader market.
Bitcoin accounts for about 49% of the whole crypto market, with a market capitalization of $1.3 trillion as of April 1.
Positive signs on U.S. crypto regulation
One among the opposite aspects that Garlinghouse sees pushing the crypto market to latest highs is the opportunity of positive regulatory momentum in america.
This yr being an election yr, crypto hopefuls are optimistic that the subsequent administration shall be more accommodating to the crypto industry with its policy focus.
The SEC under Chair Gary Gensler has been aggressive in its enforcement on crypto corporations, including Ripple itself.
The SEC targeted Ripple with a securities lawsuit alleging it illegally sold XRP, a cryptocurrency Ripple is closely related to, in unregistered securities deals. Ripple denies the claims and is fighting the suit.
“One among the things actually I’ll say on the macro tail winds for the industry: I feel we’ll get more clarity in america,” Garlinghouse said.
“The U.S. remains to be the most important economy in the world, and it’s unfortunately been one among the more hostile crypto markets. And I feel that is going to start to change, also.”
Garlinghouse isnt the one crypto bull predicting outsized gains for the crypto market this yr.
Marshall Beard, chief operating officer of U.S. crypto exchange Gemini, recently told CNBC at a crypto conference in London that he expects the bitcoin price to rise to $150,000 later this yr.
“Every part went up so fast already this yr, there’s just a whole lot of activity, a whole lot of adoption, latest regulation, ETFs, the halving, miners needing to get out,” Beard told CNBC.
“You are going to see violent moves up and down until that latest all-time high, which I feel shall be $150,000,” Beard added. “It probably happens this yr. I feel it moves so fast … and I feel that momentum, the availability shock, it moves crazy quickly.”
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