Tension in the Bull Run?

It was just last month when many swore Bitcoin was going to $100,000 – the bull run was epic in the first quarter of 2024. Not that we’re that far off – over halfway there, with 90% of holders in profit. And this is all on the back of the highly-anticipated Bitcoin halving. 

Yet, that run was abruptly paused this week as BTC visited March lows just above $60,000, when markets reacted fearfully to two big news:

• Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statement, citing inflation concerns, suggests that restrictive monetary policies will endure, a historically unfavorable scenario for Bitcoin. 
• Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East initially caused volatility, reflecting a (momentary) state of panic, as gold spiked on the other hand.

Perhaps the most reassuring fact for the moment is that large BTC hodlers, a.k.a. Bitcoin Whales refuse to sell, while accumulation addresses have garnered $1.7B in Bitcoin in a day.

Dispatch editors have gone in search of a bonafide crypto expert to validate how these market-movers feel. Not for lack of resources to wander far and wide, but luckily, we’ve found one on CNN. Nexo Co-founder Antoni Trenchev reckons that “if the previous halvings are anything to go by, it should take no longer than eight months for Bitcoin’s price to double in value.”

That would be a satisfying scenario to find ourselves in, but is there anything more for the affluent in the crypto ocean? One only needs to turn to the East, where spot Bitcoin ETFs are discussed in multiple states, with Hong Kong products already approved in principle. 

It all sounds great for adoption, but will the whales share the view? Time will tell.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)