Bitcoin is the most important cryptocurrency in the world, possessing the highest market capitalization level out of all the other coins and essentially the blueprint for all the different cyber coins investors trade nowadays. Despite the fact that it is the first, Bitcoin’s popularity and appeal remain unchallenged, as most investors are more likely to choose BTC instead of one of the altcoins and look for the way to Bitcoin. This is no small feat in the world of crypto, where trends are so fast, and fluctuations can change engagement levels overnight. 2024 has been good to Bitcoin so far, even taking the prices to new all-time highs in March. But what about the rest of the year? What can investors expect from the marketplace over the upcoming months?
DeFi
DeFi is short for decentralized finance, a concept that refers to all types of financial services that take place on blockchains. Over the years, it has been steadily associated with the world of Ethereum, as the network pioneered several features and functionalities on its own blockchain, but it seems now that Bitcoin will soon join the ranks. Not long ago, BTC was still regarded as largely conservative in the crypto community because it was solely focused on transactions and avoided using extra tokens and digital products. But this changed after the launch of the Ordinals, which are similar in use cases to non-fungible tokens, and which led to considerable hype among Bitcoin users, even fueling a price rally.
The next step in Bitcoin’s evolution seems to be the world of decentralized finance, with the ICP, the Internet Computer Protocol, taking center stage and being the way to unlock decentralized features and smart contract functionalities. Implementation will allow the attachment of Schnorr signatures on Bitcoin Runes, as well as power Ordinals inscriptions, and re-inscribe them, receive, send, and bridge BRC-20 tokens, as well as sign taproot transactions. Schnorr allows BTC signatures to be more secure, faster, and more accessible.
The Release
Bitcoin is home to several releases this year: the ETF approval of January, the halving of late April, and the ICP implementation, which integrates BIP-340, a feature that enables smart contracts to authorize native BTC transactions, as well as extra functionality and features such as batching. New use cases that are currently developing on Bitcoin will most likely benefit from the changes and additions as well. Ordinal inscribing will become a much more straightforward process as well.
The use of Schnorr signatures is also unique within the crypto environment, and there are currently no other coins or tokens doing the same thing. The possibilities for decentralized applications and services will improve as well since it means that security and liquidity can be protected without the need for centralized bridges. One of the most obvious use cases is to use ICP as an orchestration layer that will write, talk, and work alongside the blockchain. There’s also the option of writing applications from scratch, creating BTC-backed stablecoins, and other experiments that make use of the infrastructure.
The Community
Bitcoin’s community is very dedicated to the coin and helping the network progress and develop. In general, most have been relatively skeptical of additions to the blockchain compared to other crypto communities that are quick to adopt anything new that comes to their marketplaces. Long-term Bitcoin traders are typically reluctant to adopt or engage with solutions that claim to bridge the cryptocurrency and blockchain or to open the door to other chains and digital coins.
However, when the infrastructure is set to boost Bitcoin’s utility, holders are much more likely to want to integrate it, and research shows that the community is open to the use of decentralized tools and noncustodial wallets. Such changes could allow for extra utilities, such as staking BTC sometime in the near future without concerns regarding private keys and having to relinquish control over them.
The Future
With so many upcoming arrivals, Bitcoin has a packed schedule this year, but what can investors expect from it over both the short- and the long-term? Throughout the rest of the year, BTC is expected to continue to grow and become more mature, something that will likely make it more reliable and the prices more stable. At the moment, Bitcoin is unanimously recognized as a store of value in the world of cryptocurrencies, and the changes could propel it even further so that it can turn into a sort of hyper-secure computing platform.
Although the price rallied following the ETF launch, investors believe that this is only the beginning, and further growth is a given due to the halving. At the moment, values have stagnated and experienced corrections, an everyday occurrence in the crypto space after a period of sustained development. There are many predictions regarding the values Bitcoin could reach until the end of the year and beyond, into 2025 and 2026. Although initially, the estimations were around between the $80K and $100K bracket, market sentiment has become more optimistic during the last couple of months as a result of the all-time high of March.
Now, most are convinced that levels of $100,000 and even $120,000 are possible by November or December 2024 and that Bitcoin will only keep on growing from that point onward. Depending on the analyst, the prices are estimated to grow to maximum values of anywhere between $300,000 and $1M, but only time will tell how far Bitcoin can climb. Although these values seem extraordinary at the moment, it’s important to remember that Bitcoin is astronomically high at the moment compared to its values shortly after the release.
If you’re an investor, remember that it is now more important than ever to create a strategy that will allow you to navigate all the fluctuations in such a way that your portfolio doesn’t suffer and you don’t incur considerable losses that can affect your capital levels. When in doubt, remember that just because something seems urgent doesn’t necessarily mean it is. The trading world can be tricky, and you need to develop a sense of the market movements to come up with a solid plan. The only way to do that is through research and market participation.
