Jan Van Eck, CEO of the $107 billion asset manager VanEck, has predicted that Bitcoin could rally to $350,000 per coin as central banks embark on quantitative easing.
In a recent interview with Fox Business, Van Eck expressed his bullish outlook, suggesting that Bitcoin’s market cap could reach half that of gold. He said:
“Eventually, the Fed will start easing, and that’s great for gold and Bitcoin. Bitcoin is growing up. It would eventually be half the total market cap of gold. So that’s $350,000.”
Currently, Bitcoin ranks ninth among the top global assets by market cap at $1.27 trillion, while gold remains the leader with a market cap of $16.8 trillion. Despite gold’s dominant position, Van Eck believes Bitcoin could soon surpass silver’s market cap of $1.6 trillion.
Van Eck added that under a “Super Bowl” scenario, where multiple major central banks adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset, the flagship crypto could skyrocket to $2.9 million, reaffirming the projections made in his firm’s recent research report.
Van Eck’s projections are reminiscent of those made by Michael Saylor at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, where he suggested Bitcoin could hit $3 million by 2045 if it captured 5% of global wealth.
Long-Term projections
VanEck’s latest research report outlines an ambitious scenario in which Bitcoin could reach a staggering $2.9 million per coin by 2050 under a “base case scenario.”
According to the report, authored by the firm’s head of digital assets, Matthew Sigel, and senior investment analyst Patrick Bush, this valuation hinges on Bitcoin’s adoption as a global medium of exchange and a reserve asset, potentially revolutionizing the international financial system.
The report posits that Bitcoin could handle 10% of the world’s international trade and 5% of domestic trade by 2050. Additionally, central banks are projected to hold 2.5% of their assets in Bitcoin.
This scenario, based on global growth projections and the velocity of money, suggests a potential Bitcoin price of $2.9 million, resulting in a total market capitalization of $61 trillion.
Challenges
VanEck’s report emphasized that Bitcoin’s scalability issues, historically a significant barrier to its adoption, will be addressed by emerging Bitcoin Layer-2 (L2) solutions. These solutions could enable Bitcoin to support a global financial system that better serves the needs of the developing world.
Despite the optimistic outlook, VanEck acknowledges several risks that could impede Bitcoin’s growth. Rising energy demands for future Bitcoin mining, potential regulatory challenges, and competition from other cryptocurrencies are among the main concerns.
Bitcoin fell to around $62,000 ahead of the US jobs report on Aug. 2, which came in lower than estimates and revealed that unemployment had risen 4.3%. The flagship crypto has found support at this significant demand level for now but struggling to climb above the week’s value area low and is trending sideways.
BTC was trading at $62,900 as of press time, having erased most of the gains recorded over the past 24 hours, based on CryptoSlate data.
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