The crypto market, being a highly speculative sphere, is filled with a lot of predictions.
Some of these predictions regularly from reputable sources, while some don't. Some seem doable, while many others sound downright crazy.
According to recent developments, VanEck, a leading asset manager, has just dropped 15 of the (boldest, some would say), crypto predictions for 2024 in a Twitter thread.
These predictions span from niches like Bitcoin's price and the upcoming spot ETFs to others like gaming and decentralization.
Here's our breakdown of these predictions:
This one seems like a no-brainer, but we'll go over it anyway.
Particularly in the first three tweets in the thread, Van Eck goes over Bitcoin in-depth.
The asset manager speculates that Bitcoin will hit a new ATH in the fourth quarter of 2024.
This means that from now until then, Bitcoin will spend most of its time in strong dips and rallies, until October 2024, at the earliest.
VanEck says that this price action on Bitcoin will likely be driven by political and regulatory changes before and after the U.S. presidential election, which is scheduled to be held on Nov. 5, 2024.
Particularly in the first tweet, VanEck also expects that the first spot Bitcoin ETFs will be approved in the first quarter of 2024.
The prediction also says that more than $2.4 billion will flow into these ETFs in the first three months of 2024, likely fueling this ATH rally on Bitcoin.
Under much darker climes, VanEck says that the US may face a recession in 2024, and the crypto market may suffer because of it.
This prediction did not specify the cause of this recession, but it suggests that it will be a challenging time for investors.
Ethereum will one day flip Bitcoin, right?
Not according to VanEck. According to prediction number 4, VanEck states plainly, that Ethereum will not flip Bitcoin.
Instead, the firm acknowledges that Ethereum will beat Bitcoin after the halving, and may even beat major tech stocks in terms of performance. However, it will not surpass Bitcoin's dominance.
VanEck also mentions the coming Bitcoin halving, which is expected to happen in April or May.
Contrary to what the crypto community believes, VanEck believes (according to prediction 2), that the halving will not have that much of an effect on the market.
However, it will trigger a post-halving price rise, as it has done in previous cycles.
Bitcoin, according to VanEck, will lead the market rally, and the value will flow into smaller tokens after the halving.
VanEck states In prediction 4, that Ethereum will face stiff competition from other "smart contract platforms", such as Solana.
Keep in mind that Ethereum is currently the industry standard for smart contracts, with a market cap of $283 billion, while Solana currently holds a market cap of $31 billion.
However, VanEck also says in prediction 5, that Ethereum layer-2 networks will capture the majority of Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible total value locked and trading volume once the EIP-4844 scaling update is implemented.
VanEck states in prediction 12, that Solana is expected to become a top 3 blockchain by market cap, TVL, and users.
The prediction also states that Solana may surpass Chainlink's TVS with its Pyth oracle, as DeFi TVL surges and ETF interest grows.
In prediction 8, VanEck says that the stablecoin market cap will reach a new all-time high above $200 billion.
USDC in particular, is expected to be one of the stars of this scenario. The stablecoin will reverse market share losses, and experience a shift towards more institutional adoption, especially on upcoming Layer 2 chains.
In addition, prediction 6 says that Ordinals will revive the NFT space, causing NFT activity to rebound to an all-time high with Ethereum leading.
Bitcoin too will gain traction with the help of the Ordinals protocol, shifting the ETH-to-BTC NFT issuance ratio to 3-1 by the end of 2024.
VanEck notes in prediction 11, that an unnamed "breakout" blockchain game may surpass 1 million daily players.
This prediction also states that Immutable X is poised to climb the ranks of market cap with key releases and the Immutable Passport.
DePin networks, according to prediction 13 (especially Hivemapper and Helium), are also expected to see increased adoption.
Hivemapper in particular, is expected to map significant distances, with Helium's 5G network expanding rapidly and offering more cost-effective services.
Finally, VanEck also predicts that Binance, currently the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, will lose its leadership position in 2024.
This might play out, considering how on top of its regulatory issues in the US, it also faces competition from other exchanges like Coinbase (especially), OKX, Bybit, and Bitget.
VanEck expects that other exchanges will take advantage of Binance's challenges and offer more attractive alternatives to investors.
In all, VanEck maintains that Coinbase's futures market may exceed $1 billion daily volume, indicating that we might see Coinbase take the spot from Binance, as the top exchange by trading volumes.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.