Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, undeterred by the company’s long-drawn-out legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), retains an optimistic outlook for the crypto market. Garlinghouse foresees the crypto market cap doubling by year-end to hit the $5 trillion mark.
Bitcoin ETFs To Propel Crypto Market Higher
The crypto market has maintained a bullish momentum in 2024, with Bitcoin (BTC) gaining over 68.19% year-to-date following the anticipation and greenlighting of the first U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have ushered in a fresh wave of investor interest in digital assets.
Speaking with CNBC, Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse said he’s “very optimistic” about the present state of the crypto industry. Garlinghouse cited the spot Bitcoin ETFs as one of the main catalysts pushing the prices higher. According to him, the crypto market is attracting “real institutional money” for the very first time.
After a successful launch in January, BlackRock’s IBIT now holds over $17.7 billion in assets under management. Demand for the nine newly approved ETFs has been strong overall, with inflows into these funds directly impacting prices since the products buy and hold tokens themselves.
Halving To Drive Gains
Garlinghouse further predicted that the halving could be another macro tailwind for the crypto market. Halving, which takes place quadrennially, slashes Bitcoin’s supply growth by half, historically spurring upward pressure on the price of the alpha cryptocurrency. The next Bitcoin halving event is just 12 days away.
The past halving cycles thrust BTC to record highs, and this time, robust demand from the spot ETFs may add even more fuel to the rally. CoinGecko data shows that the current global crypto market cap stands at approximately $2.7 trillion.
“The overall market cap of the crypto industry … is easily predicted to double by the end of this year … [as it’s] impacted by all of these macro factors,” Garlinghouse asserted.
Garlinghouse Optimistic On Crypto Regulation
The global crypto asset regulatory environment has been coming into sharper focus for crypto investors in recent months. European regulators passed new anti-money-laundering legislation in March, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made moves to class ether as a security ahead of a key May deadline on multiple spot ETH ETF applications.
Meanwhile, the Ripple CEO revealed that he expects more regulatory clarity in the United States after the country’s new administration takes office in this year’s election.
As ZyCrypto reported previously, XRP is on the verge of seeing significant inflows in billions as Ripple is jumping into the $155 billion stablecoin market dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Its proposed U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin is expected to be launched on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
