A more positive US political environment for digital assets will likely help propel bitcoin to a record $US100,000 ($150,000) or even higher by the end the year, according to Michael Novogratz, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Galaxy Digital.
“If we take $US73,000 in the next couple of weeks or so, we are going to end the year at $US100,000 or higher,” Novogratz said during a Bloomberg Television interview. “That is a good enough target.”
After hitting an all-time high of $US73,798 in March, bitcoin has failed to regain that level. The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 2.8 per cent to $US71,005 on Tuesday, the highest in about two weeks.
In the last several weeks, however, sentiment has shifted to be more positive toward crypto, Novogratz said. The US Securities and Exchange Commission made a step toward approving exchange-traded funds investing directly in ether. Political donations supporting pro-crypto candidates have piled in, and even presidential candidates have been competing on their stance on crypto.
“I think we are getting skewed to the upside,” Novogratz said. “We kind of got to the finish line. DC has finally agreed in principle that crypto legislation has to happen, that should be bipartisan.”
President Joe Biden vetoed a congressional resolution last week that would have struck down SEC guidance that the crypto industry says has stymied its ability to work with banks.
The guidance – known as staff accounting bulletin No. 121 – has also drawn pushback from banks since it was published in 2022. Lenders have said it effectively restricts them from scaling up services to hold digital assets on behalf of customers by making it too costly.