Jan VanEck, the CEO of one of the largest investment banks in the United States, has predicted that Bitcoin will eventually reach at least half the market capitalization of Gold.
Van Eck made the prediction in an interview with Scott Melker. The CEO predicted that Bitcoin could take five to ten years to achieve this milestone.
Bitcoin’s Huge Potential
In the interview, the VanEck CEO discussed Bitcoin in detail, and the time it could take for the asset to eventually reach a market capitalization of over $7 trillion. This would be almost half the market capitalization of Gold, indicating a significant shift in the integration of Bitcoin with the traditional finance sector.
Van Eck stated that despite the optimism around Bitcoin, the bank’s TradFi clients are very confused by it, so there is still a long way to go. However, he believed Bitcoin would eventually achieve half the market cap of Gold.
“I say [Bitcoin will] eventually become at least half the market cap of Gold. So I think that takes another five or ten years. Our TradFi clients are still very confused by Bitcoin, and they don’t want to talk about it, but their clients make them talk about it. So, we have a long way to go. And also buying activities is not helpful. They want to buy it at the tops and then it’s going to go to zero at the bottom. And so they’re bad at allocating.”
Growing Popularity
Bitcoin has been one of the most talked about assets in 2024, especially after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, driving a surge of interest in the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Van Eck stated that its clients are bad at allocating and would buy Bitcoin when its price would be peaking, after which the price would drop. He also pointed out that he was hopeful firms would be open-minded to consider allocating Gold or Bitcoin at the right time and take advantage of price trends.
“In the United States, there are a lot of firms, obviously in Europe as well, that allocate people’s portfolios for them. And so my hope is those allocators will be open-minded enough to consider Gold or Bitcoin at the right time in the cycle and disciplined enough to take advantage of those trends for their clients because I kind of give up that the end clients will get it.”
He also said there is a growing appetite for Bitcoin among investors outside the United States primarily because it is outside the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Communication (SWIFT) purview.
“Investors outside the United States increasingly don’t want to be tied into SWIFT, in the US financial system and the political control that comes with it.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
