About two years ago, crypto prices topped out. Bitcoin (BTC) almost got to $70,000. Then things got bad, then they got worse and then they got cataclysmic. BTC sank toward $15,000 in the aftermath of FTX’s blow-up.
You probably remember!
Prices have rebounded for most of 2023, but these felt like hard-won gains – rallies were quickly followed by setbacks. By mid-October, bitcoin was around $27,000.
And then the market caught fire, fueled by optimism over bitcoin ETFs and sinking interest rates. Bitcoin just hit $45,000 on Coinbase. It had only just managed to surpass $40,000 a few days ago, a level last seen in early 2022.
(CoinDesk)
A crypto-skeptic friend texted me Tuesday saying he was about to buy more bitcoin. A colleague says he’s hearing from people wondering about crypto. Will this last? Is crypto making a move toward mainstream territory again?
To the disappointment of my father, who has asked me for forecasts throughout my two-decade career covering markets and finance, I have no idea. But I know it’s been two years since the mood in crypto markets felt this ebullient – before the collapses of Celsius, Voyager, Three Arrows Capital, FTX, Genesis …
FOMO (you know, “fear of missing out”) maybe mixed with a dose of YOLO (“you only live one”) seems to be back.
Wall Street is coming to crypto
How things got this enthusiastic is not hard to fathom. It really is a big deal that Wall Street heavyweights BlackRock, Fidelity and Franklin Templeton are trying to list bitcoin ETFs in the U.S.
Click here to read CoinDesk’s Most Influential list for 2023, a series of 50 profiles of key people in crypto, including BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Franklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson.
Anyone with a plain vanilla brokerage account should be able to buy these products, if they’re approved by regulators – and all signs point to approval being likely soon. That’s easier and probably more realistic for regular Americans than setting up a Coinbase account or, heaven forbid, figuring out how a decentralized exchange or MetaMask work.
So, BlackRock, Fidelity and Franklin Templeton’s sales and marketing heft looks poised to be behind bitcoin ETFs. It’s not crazy to think that will bring a lot of money into crypto. Whether that creates a sustainable rally is up for debate.
Here’s what else is on my mind:
