Bitcoin heading to 6-figure price, Bitwise CIO says

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan suggested in a new X post that the bullish thesis for Bitcoin trading above $100,000 has only strengthened in recent weeks.

Hougan explained that Bitcoin (BTC), the cryptocurrency’s only trillion-dollar asset, will inevitably surpass six figures per coin due to a combination of institutional, macroeconomic and on-chain factors.

Exchange-traded fund expert Eric Balchunas stated that the total net flows of US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds exceeded $20 billion. The American Bitcoin ETF complex has amassed over $65 billion in assets under management following $1.5 billion in inflows this week.

It took years for ETFs that track legacy assets like gold to reach those numbers, according to Balchunas. Bitcoin products reached this milestone within a year, signaling strong demand from retail and institutional investors.

Bitcoin ETFs surpassed $20 billion in total net flows (the hardest number to grow in the ETF world, the most important number) for the first time after a massive $1.5 billion week. For context, it took about 5 years for gold ETFs to reach the same figure. Total assets are currently $65 billion, which is a high number. pic.twitter.com/edldEimfqd

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) 17 October 2024

Hougan, along with QCP Capital and other experts, pointed to the upcoming US presidential election as another catalyst for Bitcoin’s price increase. Pro-Bitcoin candidate Donald Trump has led many on-chain betting polls on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

There is also a growing outlook supporting strong Bitcoin price performance regardless of which party controls the White House.

Hougan mentioned Bitcoin whale accumulation as another bullish indicator. Data from CryptoQuant confirmed that large Bitcoin holders are purchasing the asset at unprecedented rates. CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju said Bitcoin’s open interest has reached an all-time high of $20 billion, and new whale wallets now control 9.3% of the total supply.

New whale wallets now hold 1.97 million #Bitcoin.

They each have over 1,000 BTC and the average coin age is under 155 days, excluding exchanges and miners’ wallets, likely for storage purposes.

BTC balances are up 813% YTD, accounting for 9.3% of the total supply worth $132 billion today. pic.twitter.com/pxq0tcqMuW

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) 16 October 2024

The consensus among crypto supporters expects liquidity to flow into risk assets soon, citing seasonal data, new rises in stock prices and global interest rate cuts by central banks such as the Federal Reserve. Historically, Bitcoin has mostly increased in the fourth quarter, and experts suggest that the low funding rate environment could further support this trend.