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As speculation rages about the future path of Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader cryptocurrency market, asset management firm VanEck has issued a set of forecasts that reinforce optimism about continued bullish momentum.
VanEck expects the price of Bitcoin to rise to $180,000
Van Eyck He predicts The cryptocurrency bull market will reach a “medium-term peak” in the first quarter of 2025, followed by all-time highs by the end of the year. The company estimates that Bitcoin could rise to approximately $180,000, while… Ethereum (ETH) may exceed $6,000, Solana (SOL) may exceed $500, and Sui (SUI) may reach more than $10.
The report also indicates that the United States will begin to embrace Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, as promised by President-elect Donald Trump, anticipating an increase in cryptocurrency adoption overall.
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With expected changes in leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), several spot cryptocurrencies have emerged Exchange traded products ETPs are also expected to be approved. This includes Ethereum ETP products that feature staking options, as well as in-kind transaction capabilities for both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
According to the report, the asset manager expects the value of tokenized securities to exceed $50 billion in the coming months, following 61% growth to $12 billion throughout this year.
Most of this value is currently in licensed chains, but 2025 is expected to be a banner year, especially as institutions like the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) explore bridging the public-private divide. Private blockchains.
The company predicts that stablecoins will revolutionize payment systems, with daily settlement volume potentially tripling to $300 billion by the end of 2025.
This growth, driven by increased adoption of global trade and remittances and integration with major technology and payment networks, would position stablecoins to handle transactions equivalent to 5% of daily DTCC volumes.
DeFi is hitting all-time highs
Another interesting prediction is the emergence of a million new AI agents, which van Eck describes as “digital workers” who carry out tasks or make decisions autonomously.
These agents are expected to generate significant activity on-chain as they expand their roles even further Decentralized finance (DeFi) in areas such as social media, gaming, and consumer applications.
VanEck predicts that Bitcoin Layer-2 solutions will accumulate a total value locked (TVL) of 100,000 BTC, building on an impressive 600% growth in 2024 taking TVL to 30,000 BTC.
The report predicts that the Ethereum blob space will generate $1 billion in fees, driven by the rapid adoption of Layer 2 solutions, pooling improvements, and high-fee use cases such as tokenized assets and enterprise applications.
VanEck predicts that decentralized finance (DeFi) will reach all-time highs Decentralized exchange DEX volumes reach $4 trillion and total value locked in DeFi rises to $200 billion.
This growth will reportedly be fueled by AI-related tokens, consumer-facing decentralized applications (dApps), and tokenization of assets that drive liquidity and user adoption.
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The market for non-fungible tokens (NFT) is expected to rebound, with trading volumes expected to reach $30 billion in 2025. Despite recent events recessionspremium ventures like Pudgy Penguins and Miladys have been able to achieve success by leveraging strong community connections and moving into consumer brands.
Finally, VanEck expects that decentralized application (dApp) tokens will narrow the performance gap with layer-one tokens.
In 2024, Layer-1 blockchain tokens outperform dApp tokens by a factor of two, but innovative decentralized applications in AI and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) networks are expected to shift performance dynamics.
At the time of writing, the market-leading cryptocurrency has managed to reclaim the $101,820 level, registering a 2% increase in the 24-hour time frame.
Featured image of DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com