Scot Melker, the prominent crypto investor and podcast host also known as the ‘Wolf all All Streets’, made his prediction for the Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency market in an X post on Friday, March 8th.
Wolf of All Streets Predicts the Onset of a Major Crypto Bull Run
“Gun to my head, I believe that we are just at the start of a major bull run” for both Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market in general, wrote Melker.
The host of the ‘Wolf of All Streets’ podcast forecasted a huge bubble in the market that will see “coins with no fundamental value” also skyrocketing before “it inevitably pops”.
That said, the writer of the ‘The Wolf Den’ newsletter is ready to be proven wrong for his prediction. Melker said that he sees “incredible froth, exuberance, and people speaking with absolute certainty about their future wealth”.
Further highlighting that 10 crypto deals hit his inbox every day where investors are betting on tokens and strategies that will “inevitably fail”.
Bitcoin Sets New All-Time High of $70,000
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, experienced a remarkable surge last week that saw it surpass its all-time high of $69,000 per token, set in November 2021. Surprisingly, the leading crypto asset broke its ATH price twice in the space of three days.
On Saturday, BTC hit a peak of $70,000 before declining to trade within the $68,000 and $69,000 range. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is changing hands at $68,751 – down nearly 1% in the last 24 hours.
Market experts believe that Bitcoin’s current bull run is driven by mainly two factors – the massive demand for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming block reward halving event.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Record $10 Billion in Single-Day Trading Volume
Back in January, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs for trade. Since then they have continuously delivered record-breaking inflow and trading volumes.
The spot Bitcoin ETFs in contention are BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), Wisdomtree Bitcoin ETF (BTCW), VanEck Bitcoin Trust ETF (HODL), Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), Valkyrie Bitcoin ETF (BRRR), and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
On Tuesday, March 5th, the investment vehicles hit a record $10 billion in trading volume in a single day. This surge in demand coincided with the apex crypto asset backing it reaching an all-time high.
The funds from Wall Street investment giants BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC) lead the way in trading volume. Both firms reportedly hold a combined 269,417 BTC, worth over $17.8 billion, in assets under management (AUM) for the ETFs.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $9 trillion in AUM, has amassed more than 170,000 BTC, worth $11.67 billion, for its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF. This is more than what pro-Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor’s business intelligence firm MicroStrategy holds in its reserves. MicroStrategy is considered to be the publicly traded company with the largest Bitcoin holdings.
Crypto asset manager Grayscale holds 400,165 BTC – valued at over $27.4 billion – under its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) ETF, making it the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin’s Upcoming Halving Will Create Demand Shock
Then there is the halving event on the Bitcoin network, scheduled for April 19th. The event that takes place on the blockchain once every four years or after 210,000 blocks reduces the number of BTC given as a reward to miners for completing transaction blocks in half. This pre-programmed mechanism protects the cryptocurrency’s value by reducing its supply and thereby increasing its demand.
The halving is considered to be one of the most bullish events in the market and has historically been instrumental in triggering a bull cycle that results in Bitcoin reaching its peak valuation.
Prominent Crypto Figures Bet Big on Bitcoin
Several prominent figures in the crypto space are bullish for Bitcoin’s price. Matt Hougan, the CEO of crypto asset manager and ETF issuer Bitwise, stated in an interview with CNBC last week that BTC could potentially top $200,000 this year, largely due to the huge demand it has created through ETFs combined with its decreasing supply. He noted that the popularity of the spot BTC ETFs has resulted in a massive supply-demand dynamic for Bitcoin.
Meanwhile, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz sees “tremendous” global demand for the world’s most dominant cryptocurrency. He made the bold prediction that Bitcoin would eventually surpass the $12 trillion market cap of gold.
Currently, Bitcoin’s market cap sits at $1.350 trillion.