- Bitcoin has been hovering above $100,000..
- Trump has remained silent on crypto policies.
- Analysts still expect a bull market this year.
Following a year in which Bitcoin crossed the six-digit threshold investors would be well within their rights to expect a lull.
Fat chance.
Bitcoin popped Thursday afternoon UK time and is now up more than 13% this year and closing in once again on an all-time high north of $108,000.
While that might be relatively tame for Bitcoin these days, Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, the UK bank, recommended that investors buy in.
The reason: the Trump administration’s promise to roll out crypto-friendly policies in the year to come.
ETF flows
When that happens, more institutional investors will pile in, Kendric wrote in a report on Wednesday.
“The dominance of institutional inflows to ETFs is likely to support Bitcoin and Ethereum performance,” he wrote, predicting prices reaching $200,000 and $10,000, respectively, by the end of the year.
Still, the crypto market may take a dip or two in the short term. With Trump yet to enact any crypto policies, investors lack a fresh narrative to spur bullish optimism in the market.
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“The US labour market is doing better than expected, which is bad news for Bitcoin in the short term as it takes the pressure off the Federal Reserve to cut rates,” Ed Hindi, chief investment officer at crypto hedge fund Tyr Capital, told DL News.
Hindi predicted Bitcoin will reach $250,000 this year but that investors shouldn’t expect a straightforward rally.
The Fed meets
Analysts at 10x Research say Bitcoin is tracking three important dates for Bitcoin ― CPI data release, Trump’s inauguration, and the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the powerful central bank body that sets monetary policy.
The first two dates have passed. The Fed will meet on January 29 to decide on interest rate cuts, which are bullish signals for risk-on assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Despite expectations of multiple rate cuts to manage inflation, the Fed signalled a change of course in December. The upcoming FOMC is not expected to result in a rate cut, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.
Fed fund futures traders are betting that the Fed won’t announce any rate cuts until at least July.
‘Exciting year for crypto’
Despite the lack of momentum for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, market observers say 2025 will be an important year.
“The market is keenly watching for progress and not just on regulatory clarity but also on how the [Trump] administration might view Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset,” Seamus Rocca, CEO of legacy Bitcoin bank Xapo Bank, told DL News.
Like Rocca, several other analysts say a lot is riding on Trump’s approach to the sector.
“Trump will turn some of his crypto rhetoric into action in his first 90 days in office and this should catapult prices,” Hindi said.
“Creating a US Bitcoin strategic reserve will be one of them [and] other countries will be forced to follow suit and hence create a price action virtuous cycle.”
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up 1.3% over the past 24 hours to reach $105,975.
- Ethereum has fallen slightly over the same period to $3,274.
What we’re reading
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
