Depictions of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency can be seen in this illustration taken on November 25, 2024.
Dado Ruvić | Reuters
After a brisk meeting in bitcoin this year, crypto investors and industry executives told CNBC they expect the leading 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. That came later Donald Trump — who ran on a prominent crypto policy platform — secured a historic victory in November’s election.
Trump’s imminent return to the White House has boosted crypto sentiment, with many industry executives and analysts expecting him to promote a more favorable regulatory environment for digital assets.
During his campaign, Trump promised to replace current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has taken aggressive legal action against various crypto companies. Gensler has agreed to step down from the SEC in 2025.
Trump too indicated that the US may establish a strategic bitcoin reserveby pooling funds obtained from seizures from criminal activities.
Also in 2024, bitcoin surpassed the 2021 price milestone of close to $70,000 after the SEC gave the green light the first US spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.
The approval of the ETF was widely seen as a pivotal moment for the cryptocurrency as it broadens its appeal to larger investors.
Another key moment in 2024 was the halvingan event that takes place every four years and reduces the supply of bitcoins in the market. This is usually very favorable for the price of bitcoin.
These developments have helped cryptocurrencies transcend the narrative an industry marred by scandal. It was a dominant theme in 2023 as two of the most prominent figures in cryptocurrency — FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao — both received prison sentences on criminal charges.
Bitcoin has more than doubled in price this year. The token is widely expected to experience even more positive price momentum in 2025 — with several industry observers predicting a doubling in value to $200,000.
CoinShares: $80,000 – $150,000
James Butterfill, head of research for crypto-focused asset manager CoinShares, told CNBC that he sees prices of $150,000 and $80,000 on the cards for bitcoin in 2025.
Butterfill said that in the long term it would not be “unreasonable” to expect bitcoin to become worth around 25% of gold’s market share – up from around 10% now. That would correspond to a price of $250,000.
But he doesn’t see that happening next year. “However, the timing of this is very difficult and I don’t expect it to happen in 2025, but it will go in that direction,” Butterfill told CNBC via email.
He said it is “likely” that bitcoin could reach both $80,000 and $150,000 within the year.
Butterfill’s $80,000 call, if hit, would be the result of Trump’s promised pro-crypto policy not coming to fruition.
“Disappointment over Trump’s proposed crypto policies and doubts about their implementation could trigger a significant market correction,” Butterfill said.
Next year, Butterfill expects a favorable regulatory environment in the US to be the primary driver supporting bitcoin prices.
In 2023, CoinShares forecast bitcoin at $80,000 in 2024.
Matrixport: $160,000
Matrixport, a crypto financial services company, said that bitcoin could reach $160,000 in 2025.
“These predictions are supported by sustained demand for Bitcoin ETFs, favorable macroeconomic trends and a growing global liquidity pool,” Markus Thielen, head of research at Matrixport, told CNBC via email.
Bitcoin is known to be highly volatile with the potential for corrections between 70% and 80% from all-time highs. Thielen said the withdrawals in 2025 will be “less pronounced.”
“Bitcoin’s growing buyer base at lower prices and strong institutional support are expected to mitigate severe corrections,” Thielen said.
In 2023, Matrixport predicted that bitcoin would reach $125,000 in 2024.
Galaxy Digital: $185,000
Alex Thorn, head of research at crypto-focused asset management firm Galaxy Digital, predicts bitcoin will surpass $150,000 in the first half of the year before reaching $185,000 in the fourth quarter.
“A combination of institutional, corporate and nation-state acceptance will propel Bitcoin to new heights in 2025,” Thorn wrote in a research note shared with CNBC.
“Throughout its existence, Bitcoin has grown 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. exchange-traded spot bitcoin products will collectively exceed $250 billion in assets under management in 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 Chartered: $200,000
Geoffrey Kendrick of Standard Chartered calls for bitcoin price to double. 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 flows into bitcoin next year to “continue at or above the 2024 pace.”
Institutional bitcoin inflows have already reached 683,000 BTC since the start of the year, the bank noted, via US spot ETFs that were mostly bought by Microstrategysoftware company and efficient bitcoin proxy.
Kendrick said MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchases next year should “equal or exceed 2024 purchases.”
Pension funds should also start adding more bitcoin to their portfolios through US spot ETFs next year thanks to expected reforms by the new Trump administration to rules on so-called “TradFi” (traditional financial) firms that invest in digital currencies, he added .
“Even a small allocation of $40 trillion to US pension funds would significantly boost BTC prices,” Kendrick noted. “We would be even better off if US pension funds, global sovereign wealth funds, or a potential US strategic reserve fund accepted BTC more quickly.”
Carol Alexander: $200,000
Carol Alexander, professor of finance at the University of Sussex, sees a $200,000 bitcoin next year as a possibility.
“I’m more optimistic than ever for 2025,” Alexander told CNBC, adding that the price of bitcoin “could easily reach $200,000, but there are no signs of abating in volatility.”
“By the summer I expect it to be trading around $150,000 plus or minus $50,000.” Alexander clarified that she does not actually own bitcoin.
Explaining her reasoning, Alexander said that supportive US regulation will boost bitcoin, however, the lack of regulation of crypto exchanges will continue to fuel volatility due to highly leveraged trades that rise and fall in price.
Alexander has a history of correctly calling the price of bitcoin. Last year, she told CNBC that bitcoin would hit $100,000 in 2024, which it did.
Essential Mining: $180,000 – $190,000
Youwei Yang, chief economist at Bit Mining, predicts that bitcoin will reach a price between $180,000 and $190,000 in 2025 — but is also cautious about a potential price drop.
“The price of bitcoin in 2025 is likely to experience both significant upward momentum and occasional sharp corrections,” Yang told CNBC. “At times of market shocks, such as a major stock market crash, bitcoin may temporarily fall to around $80,000. However, the overall trend is expected to remain bullish.”
Factors behind the expected rise of bitcoin in 2025 include lower interest rates, support from Trump and increased institutional adoption.
““Based on these dynamics, I predict that Bitcoin could peak at $180,000 to $190,000 in 2025, aligning with historical cycle patterns and the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies,” Yang said.
Despite this, Yang also expects the next year to bring a number of “corrections” for the price of bitcoin.
Downside risks include tensions between the US and China, disruptions in global capital markets, possible unexpected restrictive measures and possible delays in the Fed’s rate-cutting 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, targets a price between $180,000 and $200,000 for bitcoin by the end of 2025.
“If you look historically, when we’ve seen gold ETFs, the inflows in the first year have gone up dramatically in subsequent years — and I think we can expect that with bitcoin ETFs,” Powell told CNBC’s ” Squawk Box Europe “.
“I think we’ll see more inflows in the coming years as bitcoin and even crypto become a core asset allocation for institutional asset managers,” Powell added.
Another factor that Powell sees increasing the price of bitcoin is the anticipation of a strategic bitcoin reserve in the US
However, the head of Maple Finance is taking care of the market pullback. “I think of course you’re going to see corrections — crypto is still a cyclical industry,” Powell told CNBC.
In previous market cycles, bitcoin rose dramatically over several months before plummeting in value.
Take, for example, the previous cycle: In 2021, bitcoin rose to nearly $70,000 as more investors piled in, but the following year the token fell to less than $17,000 due to a series of major crypto company bankruptcies.
However, Powell stressed that the 70% to 80% decline that bitcoin has seen in past cycles is unlikely in 2025 “because there are more buffers than those institutional inflows into the sector.”
Nexo: $250,000
Elitsa Taskova, product director of crypto-lending platform Nexo, is more optimistic about the outlook for bitcoin in 2025 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 entire crypto market capitalization surpassing that of gold.
“These projections are in line with ongoing trends and social markers: increasing recognition of Bitcoin as a reserve asset, more Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related exchange-traded products (ETPs), and stronger adoption,” said Nex’s head of product.
Supportive macroeconomic conditions, such as easing monetary policy by the world’s major central banks, are likely to boost bitcoin, she added.
“Federal Reserve balancing — managing interest rates and inflation while avoiding stagnation — will be key,” she said, warning that, on the other hand, persistent inflation could also prompt a sharp turn.
“With the US leading the way in deploying crypto-related capital, rate decisions and inflation dynamics are likely to remain key influences on the price of bitcoin in 2025.”
