Bitcoin could hit $100,000 by “capturing even 2% to 5% of gold’s market cap” – Hut 8 Vice President Sue Ennis

The next bitcoin halving is less than nine months away, and analysts and investors agree that the halving will propel the bitcoin price to a new all-time high or even above $100,000.

Despite this assumption, the lack of fresh inflows into the crypto market, the current macroeconomic headwinds, and Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent price move below $30,000 do not inspire much confidence in this theory in the near-term.

In a recent interview with Paul Barron, Hut 8 Vice President Sue Ennis offered her thoughts on how the Bitcoin price will surge past $100,000 next year and how the upcoming halving will affect BTC miners. Hut 8 currently has a balance of 9,152 BTC in reserve, of which 8,305 are unencumbered. The company’s installed ASIC hash rate capacity is 2.6 exahashes per second, and Hut 8 mined 44.6 BTC in July.

In the interview, Barron asked if the increasing Bitcoin difficulty for miners could trigger a new wave of selling pressure against BTC. Citing data from the Hashrate Index, Barron noted that spikes in Bitcoin difficulty were followed by falls in BTC price.

Bitcoin price, difficulty level and difficulty adjustment. Source: Hashrate Index

Barron questioned whether miners would sell Bitcoin due to the upcoming halving, creating a need for more efficient ASICs, and whether BTC’s price action before and after the halving wouldn’t be as bullish as investors had anticipated.

According to Ennis:

“There’s a lot of really unprecedented momentum in the mining space right now. […] What is interesting is that the hash rate is still available online even though the bitcoin price is in a certain range. […] We are still seeing an increase in hash rate.”

Ennis explained the following:

“What has changed now is that the bitcoin price is going down a bit but the hash rate keeps going up. […] I think what’s really exciting and different is that we’re seeing a tremendous number of new entrants onto the global bitcoin network.”

Ennis pointed to the Middle East generating six gigawatts of nuclear and renewable energy, and as the region’s governments explore bitcoin mining as an option, a higher hash rate is coming online in a way that’s reasonably price agnostic. This differs drastically from how publicly traded, US-based, and more forward-thinking miners operate.

According to Ennis, to stay afloat after the halving, miners would need to be able to avoid “single-threaded”, i.e.

Revenue diversification would include researching various artificial intelligence (AI) applications, providing GPU storage space for companies specializing in AI training, and potentially offering industry-grade ASIC repair services — or even participation in demand initiatives with major energy producers and distributors.

Related: “Crash” to $22,000 in September? – 5 things you should know about Bitcoin this week

Thanks to the halving and the eventual BTC ETF, higher prices are programmed

Crypto investors have waited years for the launch of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), and even with the recent spate of applications, approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission remains a long way off.

Despite the delays and rejections in the past, Ennis said that a “spot ETF coming out is incredibly bullish on the asset class,” but also cautioned that approval could create selling pressure on mining stocks, as mining stocks are common were used as a proxy investment for Bitcoin.

Regarding the percentage chance of spot bitcoin ETF approval by the end of 2023, Ennis said:

“Definitely better than 50. The real reason I think that is because BlackRock threw their hat in the ring because BlackRock is powerful and the largest money manager in the world. For them to throw their hat in the ring and say that’s what we want and the impact they’ve had in the markets in previous initiatives has been tremendous. So I think making this decision is a real bullish signal for them.”

Regarding a possible target for the Bitcoin price, Ennis said:

“I definitely think we could see a $100,000 cost per bitcoin this next cycle, and that’s based on BTC also capturing just 2-5% of the $13 trillion gold spot in institutional portfolios . If bitcoin could capture even 2-3% of gold’s market cap, it would boost the price incredibly and push it past $100,000.”

This article does not contain any investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading activity involves risk and readers should do their own research in making their decision.

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