- Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, predicted bitcoin prices will soar in 2024 due to increased demand from institutional investors flowing into bitcoin spot ETFs coupled with lower bitcoin supply from mining.
- Saylor said the bitcoin spot ETF opened floodgates for large capital inflows over next 18 months while bitcoin supply shrinks after 2024 halving event, creating a recipe for higher prices.
- Though no specific target given, MicroStrategy remains highly bullish on bitcoin’s long-term potential, believing its market cap could reach $100 trillion by 2030, a 50-fold increase from current $400 billion market cap.
A large increase in demand coupled with lower supply should set the stage for higher bitcoin prices in 2024, predicted Michael Saylor, CEO of Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy.
Saylor on the Bitcoin Spot ETF
The approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in October 2022 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was the biggest development on Wall Street in the last 30 years, according to Saylor. He made the comments during an interview at the Crypto Finance Conference 2022 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Saylor said the bitcoin spot ETF has opened the floodgates for an immense amount of capital to flow into the Bitcoin network over the next 18 months from large institutional investors. This, coupled with shrinking bitcoin supply as miners hold onto more coins, should drive the price of bitcoin significantly higher, he added.
Lower Bitcoin Supply Ahead
The Bitcoin network is heading for lower new supply after the next halving event expected in early 2024. The pace of new bitcoin creation gets cut in half about every four years via so-called halving events.
There are only about 900 bitcoins mined per day now, Saylor said. And in 18 months, the network will only be producing 450 new bitcoins per day.
“So you have accelerating demand from institutions and decelerating supply from miners,” Saylor said. “My guess is that’s a recipe for the price going up.”
Bitcoin Price Forecast
Saylor didn’t provide a specific bitcoin price target for 2024. But MicroStrategy, which holds about 130,000 bitcoins, continues to be extremely bullish on the cryptocurrency in the long term.
The publicly traded company, whose shares have high beta to the price fluctuations of bitcoin, said last year that it believes bitcoin has the potential to reach $100 trillion in market capitalization by 2030.
That’s up from around a current $400 billion market cap for Bitcoin. It would also represent a more than 50-fold increase over the next seven years.
Conclusion
The confluence of surging bitcoin demand from larger investors and shrinking new supply should pave the way for bitcoin prices to continue marching higher in 2024, according to MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor. He predicts that the combination of these two factors will drive the bitcoin price significantly above current levels over the next 18 months.
