The illustration taken on November 25, 2024 shows the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Considering Ruvic | Reuters
After a fierce rally in bitcoins this year, cryptocurrency investors and industry executives told CNBC they expect the flagship cryptocurrency to hit new all-time highs in 2025.
In December, the world's largest cryptocurrency broke the long-awaited $100,000, a record price above that amount. That came later Donald Trump – who ran on a clearly pro-cryptic policy platform – secured a historic victory in the November elections.
Trump's impending return to the White House has improved sentiment around cryptocurrencies, with many industry executives and analysts expecting him to promote a more favorable regulatory environment for digital assets.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to replace incumbent Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who has taken aggressive legal action against various cryptocurrency companies. Gensler agreed to step down from the SEC in 2025.
Trump did it too indicated that the United States may create a strategic bitcoin reserveby pooling funds obtained as a result of confiscations from criminal activities.
Also in 2024, Bitcoin surpassed its 2021 price milestone of nearly $70,000 after the SEC gave the green light the first American spot bitcoin funds, or ETFs.
The approval of the ETF was widely seen as a key moment for the cryptocurrency as it increases its appeal to more mainstream investors.
The second key moment in 2024 was the halvingan event that takes place every four years and limits the supply of bitcoin to the market. This is usually very favorable for the price of Bitcoin.
These developments have helped move cryptocurrencies beyond the narrative an industry plagued by scandals. This was a dominant theme in 2023, when two of cryptocurrency's most prominent figures – FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance's Changpeng Zhao – received prison sentences on criminal charges.
The price of bitcoin has more than doubled this year. The token's price is widely expected to see even more positive price growth in 2025 – with several industry observers predicting a doubling in value to $200,000.
CoinShares: $80,000-$150,000
James Butterfill, head of research at cryptocurrency-focused asset manager CoinShares, told CNBC that he sees bitcoin prices reaching both $150,000 and $80,000 in 2025.
Butterfill said that in the long term it would not be “unreasonable” to expect bitcoin to become worth about 25% of the gold market share – up from about 10% currently. That would mean a price tag of $250,000.
However, he doesn't think it will happen next year. “The timing of this, however, is very difficult and I don't expect it to happen in 2025, but things will be moving in that direction,” Butterfill told CNBC by email.
He said “probably” bitcoin could reach both $80,000 and $150,000 within a year.
Butterfill's $80,000 call, if successful, will be the result of Trump's promised pro-cryptotype policy failing to materialize.
“Disappointment with Trump's proposed cryptocurrency policy and doubts about its implementation could cause a significant market correction,” Butterfill said.
Butterfill expects a favorable U.S. regulatory environment to be a major factor supporting bitcoin prices next year.
In 2023, CoinShares forecasts the price of bitcoin at $80,000 in 2024.
Matrixport: $160,000
Matrixport, a crypto services company, said bitcoin could reach $160,000 in 2025.
“This outlook is supported by continued demand for Bitcoin ETFs, favorable macroeconomic trends and a growing global liquidity pool,” Markus Thielen, head of research at Matrixport, told CNBC by email.
Bitcoin is known to be highly volatile and can experience corrections of 70% to 80% from historical highs. Thielen said the declines in 2025 would be “less pronounced.”
“Bitcoin's growing dip buyer base and solid institutional support are expected to mitigate severe corrections,” Thielen said.
Matrixport predicted in 2023 that bitcoin would reach $125,000 in 2024.
Galaxy Digital: $185,000
Alex Thorn, head of research at cryptocurrency asset manager Galaxy Digital, predicts bitcoin will exceed $150,000 in the first half of the year before reaching $185,000 in the fourth quarter.
“The combination of institutional, corporate and nation-state adoption will take Bitcoin to new heights in 2025.” Thorn wrote in a research note shared with CNBC.
“Throughout its existence, Bitcoin has appreciated faster than all other asset classes, particularly the S&P 500 and gold, and this trend will continue in 2025. Bitcoin will also reach 20% of gold's market capitalization.”
Galaxy predicts that U.S. products traded on the bitcoin exchange will total $250 billion in assets under management by 2025.
The company expects five Nasdaq 100 companies and five nation states to add bitcoin to their balance sheets or sovereign wealth funds next year.
Standard charter: $200,000
Geoffrey Kendrick z Standard charter calls for doubling the price of bitcoin. The bank's head of digital asset research said in a note earlier this month that he expects bitcoin to reach $200,000 by the end of 2025.
Standard Chartered expects institutional cryptocurrency inflows into bitcoin “to continue at or above 2024 levels next year.”
The bank noted that year-to-date institutional bitcoin inflows have already reached 683,000 BTC via US spot ETFs, which were largely purchased by Micro-strategysoftware company i effective bitcoin proxy server.
Kendrick said MicroStrategy's bitcoin purchases next year should “match or exceed 2024 purchases.”
Pension funds should also start including more bitcoin in their portfolios through U.S. spot ETFs next year thanks to anticipated reforms from the new Trump administration to rules for so-called “TradFi” (traditional finance) firms investing in digital currencies, he added .
“Even a small $40 trillion allocation to U.S. pension funds would significantly increase BTC prices,” Kendrick noted. “We would become even more bullish if BTC sees faster uptake by U.S. pension funds, global sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), or a potential U.S. Strategic Reserve Fund.”
Carol Alexander: $200,000
Carol Alexander, professor of finance at the University of Sussex, believes that bitcoin will be worth $200,000 next year.
“I'm more bullish on 2025 than ever,” Alexander told CNBC, adding that bitcoin's price “could easily hit $200,000, but there's no sign of abating in volatility.”
“By the summer I expect it to be priced around $150,000 plus or minus $50,000.” Alexander clarified that she does not own any bitcoins herself.
Explaining her rationale, Alexander said that supportive U.S. regulation will strengthen bitcoin, but the lack of regulation on cryptocurrency exchanges will continue to increase volatility due to highly leveraged trading that causes prices to rise and fall.
Alexander has a history of correctly pricing bitcoin. Last year, she told CNBC that bitcoin would hit $100,000 in 2024, and it did.
Bit mining: $180,000-$190,000
Youwei Yang, chief economist at Bit Mining, predicts bitcoin will reach a price of $180,000 to $190,000 in 2025, but is also cautious about potential price declines.
“Bitcoin price in 2025 will likely see both significant increases and occasional sharp corrections,” Yang told CNBC. “At times of market shocks, such as a severe stock market downturn, bitcoin may temporarily drop to around $80,000. However, the overall trend is expected to remain bullish.”
Factors underlying Bitcoin's predicted 2025 rally include lower interest rates, support from Trump, and increased institutional adoption.
“Based on these dynamics, I predict that Bitcoin could peak at $180,000-190,000 in 2025, which will be in line with historical cycle patterns and increasing mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies,” Yang said.
Nevertheless, Yang also expects that next year will bring a number of “corrections” for the price of bitcoin as well.
Risk factors include U.S.-China tensions, disruptions in global capital markets, potential unexpected restrictive measures and possible delays in the Fed's interest rate cut cycle.
Last year, Yang predicted that bitcoin would reach $75,000 in 2024.
Maple Finance: $180,000-$200,000
Sid Powell, CEO and co-founder of centralized financial platform Maple Finance, is targeting a bitcoin price of between $180,000 and $200,000 by the end of 2025.
“If you look historically, when we saw the emergence of gold ETFs, inflows in the first year increased dramatically in the following years – and I think we can expect that with bitcoin ETFs,” Powell told CNBC's “Squawk Box Europe.”
“I think we will see greater inflows in the coming years as bitcoin and cryptocurrencies become the primary asset allocation for institutional asset managers,” Powell added.
Another factor that Powell believes is boosting the price of bitcoin is the expectation of the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve in the US
Despite this, the head of Maple Finance draws attention to market declines. “I think you'll obviously see corrections – cryptocurrency remains a cyclical industry,” Powell told CNBC.
In previous market cycles, Bitcoin's value has skyrocketed for a few months and then plummeted.
Take the previous cycle for example: Bitcoin rose to nearly $70,000 in 2021 as more investors flooded in, but the following year the token fell to less than $17,000 amid a series of bankruptcies of large crypto companies.
However, Powell stressed that declines of 70% to 80% for bitcoin seen in previous cycles are unlikely in 2025 “because there is a larger buffer against institutional inflows into the sector.”
Nexus: $250,000
Elitsa Taskova, chief product officer of lending platform Nexo, is more optimistic about Bitcoin's 2025 prospects than the general consensus.
“We see bitcoin more than doubling to $250,000 within a year,” Taskova told CNBC, adding that in the long term – as well as over the next decade – she sees the capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market surpassing that of gold.
“These forecasts are in line with current trends and social markers: growing recognition of Bitcoin as a reserve asset, more Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products (ETPs), and greater adoption,” said Nexo’s head of product.
She added that favorable macroeconomic conditions, such as the easing of monetary policy by the world's major central banks, will likely strengthen bitcoin.
“The Federal Reserve's sustainability – managing interest rates and inflation while avoiding stagnation – will be critical,” she said, warning that, on the other hand, persistent inflation could also trigger a hawkish turn.
“As the United States leads in the deployment of cryptocurrency-related capital, interest rate decisions and inflation dynamics are likely to remain key factors influencing the price of bitcoin in 2025.”