Bitwise team's 10 predictions for cryptocurrency in 2024

Written by: @RasterlyRock

Compiled by: Baihua Blockchain

In 2024, everyone is speculating that Bitcoin will reach new historical highs, the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will become the most successful ETF issuance ever, Coinbase's revenue will double, and so on.

Here are 10 cryptocurrency predictions for 2024 from the @BitwiseInvest team:

1. Bitcoin will trade above $80,000, setting a new historical high

There will be two important driving factors: the anticipated launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF in early 2024 and the halving of new Bitcoin supply around the end of April.

2. The spot Bitcoin ETF will be approved and will overall become the most successful ETF issuance ever

In the next five years, we estimate that the spot Bitcoin ETF could capture $7.2 billion of the U.S. ETF market, which represents 1% of a $7.2 trillion market cap.

3. Coinbase's revenue will double and exceed Wall Street's expectations by at least 10 times

Coinbase's trading volume has historically surged during bull markets, and we expect this trend to re-emerge. Additionally, they have launched a range of new products that are receiving positive feedback.

4. More funds will be settled through stablecoins compared to using Visa

Stablecoins are one of the "killer applications" of cryptocurrency, growing from zero to a market size of $137 billion over the past four years. We believe 2024 will be another significant growth year.

5. JPMorgan will tokenize funds and put them on-chain as Wall Street prepares to tokenize real assets

The launch of tokenized funds will enable them to leverage the efficiency of on-chain assets and enter a rapidly growing market.

6. Ethereum's revenue will grow more than 2 times, reaching $5 billion, as users flock to crypto applications

In 2023, users paid approximately $2.3 billion in fees to use Ethereum. We believe this figure will at least double in 2024, making Ethereum one of the fastest-growing large tech platforms globally.

7. Taylor Swift will launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to connect with fans

One possibility is that Swift became the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2023 with over 26 billion streams, and Spotify is experimenting with token-gated playlists that require listeners to own specific NFTs to access.

8. AI assistants will start using cryptocurrency for online payments, confirming cryptocurrency as the "native currency of the internet"

We believe AI assistants will prefer digital-native currencies like Bitcoin or stablecoins. We think this will start happening in 2024.

9. Over $100 million will be staked in prediction markets, making prediction markets the new "killer application" of cryptocurrency

We believe decentralized prediction markets will become the primary venue for event-based and more traditional sports-related betting.

10. Major upgrades to Ethereum will reduce average transaction costs to less than $0.01

EIP-4844 could reduce the cost of using Ethereum by over 90%. We believe this upgrade will pave the way for the first truly mainstream application in the cryptocurrency space.

These are our predictions for 2024. Please note: like all predictions, these do not constitute guarantees but are our best-informed estimates. The future is complex and conditional, and whether these predictions fully materialize will depend on many intricate factors. The above content does not constitute investment advice.