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 Inc (NASDAQ:) CEO Sam Tabar shared his insights about the positive reception of the 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. He also discussed the upcoming U.S. election, Bitcoin price forecast, and much more.
ETFs progress noted
The chief of sustainability-focused bitcoin mining firm (BTBT) said he was “generally pleased” that these ETFs have enabled a new subset of individuals and entities to gain exposure to the underlying assets.
“They’ve been some of the most successful ETF launches in history and have accounted for the majority of new ETF flows in 2024,” said Tabar.
“It shows that there was a huge appetite for digital asset exposure for entities that were previously constrained for whatever reason.”
Strong inflows are occurring as Bitcoin came under heavy selling pressure from multiple sources, including repayments related to the defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox and the German government transferred hundreds of millions worth of BTC to exchanges. Some investors might see this dip as a buying opportunity.
Leading the inflows was BlackRock (NYSE:) IBIT, which saw $121 million added, 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, raising its total net inflows to $2.5 billion.
However, Grayscale GBTC had an outflow of $37.5 million, and Bitwise saw an outflow of $4.7 million. Overall, the 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 pointed out the differing stances of the two candidates. “I think the general consensus is that Trump is the pro-crypto candidate and would ultimately be the more favorable policymaker towards crypto,” 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 crypto wasn’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 Bitcoin to be mined in the U.S.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee promised to loosen cryptocurrency regulations if elected in November and to “get out of the way of innovation”.
Trump has shifted from being a crypto skeptic to a crypto supporter, capitalizing on the frustration within the crypto community. This change appears to be gaining him support among the small but vocal crypto advocates.
However, in a 90-minute debate, neither Biden nor Trump mentioned cryptocurrencies, despite massive fundraising by crypto lobbyists for this election cycle.
Despite three crypto-backed super political action committees (PACs) raising $202.8 million from industry backers and spending $93.6 million to influence the 2024 elections, the crypto sector received no attention in the CNN debate.
Interestingly, crypto billionaire Michael Novogratz joined a coalition of top business leaders in a campaign urging President Joe Biden to reconsider his re-election bid.
Bitcoin price forecast
Experts vigorously debate Bitcoin’s long-term prospects, considering three drivers: its role as a store of value, a currency, or a technology.
Discussing the realistic Bitcoin price target by the end of the decade, Tabar explained that he believes “the long-term trend is higher. We expect cyclical gyrations in the short term but see long-term structural upside given the generational normalization of the asset.”
Interestingly, Tabar expects that investors will soon prefer trading digital gold over the real thing. “I believe Bitcoin will eventually surpass the gold market in value,” he said.
He mentioned that while he wouldn’t be surprised to see Bitcoin reach $1 million, predicting the exact timeline and trajectory is challenging. To mitigate the volatility risk, Bit Digital has installed an HPC business that is uncorrelated to the price of Bitcoin.
“Now we have a steady cash flow-producing business that allows us to enjoy the structural upside of Bitcoin long-term without waking up in a cold sweat every night when the Bitcoin price dips to a certain level,” Tabar concluded.