Brad Garlinghouse, the chief executive officer (CEO) of %Blockchain start-up %Ripple (CRYPTO: $XRP), says the global cryptocurrency market is likely to double in size to $5 trillionU.S. by year’s end.
Garlinghouse says macroeconomic factors, spot %Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETFs) in the U.S., and the upcoming Bitcoin halving event are all working in crypto’s favor right now.
“I’m very optimistic. I think the macro trends, the big picture things like the ETFs, they’re driving for the first time real institutional money,” said Garlinghouse in an interview with CNBC.
The first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved on Jan. 10 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They trade on U.S. stock exchanges and allow institutions and individuals to gain exposure to Bitcoin’s price without having to directly own the digital asset.
The Bitcoin halving that is expected later in April is an event that takes place every four years and reduces the number of new tokens that can be mined by 50%.
Garlinghouse’s forecast for the crypto market is aggressive as the worldwide crypto market was worth $2.6 trillion U.S. at the start of April this year.
Bitcoin’s price has risen more than 140% in the last 12 months, though it pulled back after
hitting a record high just under $74,000 U.S. on March 14.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $71,800 U.S. and accounts for half (49%) of the entire cryptocurrency market, with a market capitalization of $1.3 trillion U.S. as of April 1.
However, Garlinghouse isn’t the only cryptocurrency enthusiast who is forecasting big gains in the coming months.
Marshall Beard, chief operating officer (COO) of U.S. crypto exchange Gemini, recently said that he expects Bitcoin’s price to reach $150,000 U.S. this year.