About two years ago, cryptocurrency prices peaked. Bitcoin (btc) It reached almost $70,000. Then things got worse, then worse, then catastrophic. BTC sank towards $15,000 in the wake of the FTX explosion.
Prices rebounded through most of 2023, but it looked like hard-won gains — and the highs were quickly followed by setbacks. By mid-October, the price of Bitcoin was around $27,000.
A crypto-skeptical friend of mine texted me on Tuesday saying he was about to buy more bitcoin. One colleague says he hears from people wondering about cryptocurrencies. Will this continue? Are cryptocurrencies moving towards mainstream territory again?
To the disappointment of my father, who had asked me for predictions throughout my two-decade career covering markets and finance, I had no idea. But I do know that it’s been a couple of years since the mood in the cryptocurrency markets felt this heated – before the collapse of Celsius, Voyager, Three Arrows Capital, FTX, Genesis…
It seems that FOMO (you know, “fear of missing out”) mixed with a dose of YOLO (“You Only Live One”) is back.
It is not difficult to understand how things got to this point of excitement. It’s really a big deal that Wall Street heavyweights BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton are trying to list their bitcoin ETFs in the US.
Anyone with a simple brokerage account should be able to purchase these products, if approved by regulators — and all signs point to approval likely soon. This is easier and probably more realistic for ordinary Americans than setting up a Coinbase account or, heaven forbid, learning how a decentralized exchange or MetaMask works.
So, it looks like the sales and marketing of BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton are about to be behind Bitcoin ETFs. It is not crazy to think that this will bring a lot of money into cryptocurrencies. Whether or not this creates a sustainable high is up for debate.
Here’s what else is on my mind:
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