“Forbes” columnist predicts five trends in the 2024 cryptocurrency market, forecasting the improvement of US accounting rules, which will benefit companies holding or purchasing BTC and USDT, but will also face stricter audits and delisting risks. Additionally, it is predicted that Bitcoin will surpass $60,000.
Table of Contents:
Improvement of accounting rules favors companies holding or purchasing BTC
Approval of Bitcoin spot ETF
Tether to undergo audits and face delisting risks
US banks to embrace tokenized payments
Bitcoin to surpass $60,000
With the expectation of the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, the halving narrative, and the signal of a potential interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in its December FOMC meeting, the cryptocurrency industry is believed to have emerged from the bear market of the past two years, and the imminent 2024 seems to be the start of a bull market explosion.
Against this backdrop, Forbes recently published a prediction about major events in the cryptocurrency field in 2024, reminding investors to prepare for the new year in advance. The author, Sean Stein Smith, is an associate professor of business economics at the City University of New York.
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Additional Background:
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Prediction 1: Improvement of accounting rules favors companies holding or purchasing BTC
Smith pointed out that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) officially announced on the 13th the first accounting standard update for cryptocurrencies. This update allows cryptocurrency companies and companies holding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to use “fair value” to account for certain cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets and recognize changes in fair value in their net income.
Multiple foreign media outlets also pointed out that this move will benefit companies with cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets, such as US-listed companies that continue to promote fair value accounting, and MicroStrategy, the dominant holder of Bitcoin.
Smith is optimistic about this:
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Prediction 2: Approval of Bitcoin spot ETF
The least risky prediction for 2024 is that the “Bitcoin spot ETF” will be approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With the entry of asset management giants such as BlackRock and Ark Investment, the probability of the ETF being approved will greatly increase.
Regarding the positive impact after the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF.
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Prediction 3: Tether to undergo audits and face delisting risks
It is worth noting that Smith stated that Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin USDT, will face stricter regulatory scrutiny in the future. This is because its issuance policy lacks transparency, there are various issues with its reserves, and its leadership has always been reluctant to appear in the United States.
Smith warned that although USDT is the largest and most liquid stablecoin in the market, with continued enforcement pressure from US regulatory agencies, 2024 will also be a critical year for the survival of Tether.
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Prediction 4: US banks to embrace tokenized payments
Another relatively easy prediction for 2024 is that many of the world’s largest financial institutions have already launched tokenized payment services operating on enterprise blockchains, such as Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan.
Smith stated that the business use cases of tokenized payments have long been understood by cryptocurrency advocates, and major financial institutions are also catching up with these benefits, so this trend will continue to expand.
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Prediction 5: Bitcoin to surpass $60,000
Lastly, Smith made a prediction about the price of Bitcoin in the coming year. He conservatively estimated that BTC is likely to surpass the $60,000 mark in 2024. However, he also warned overly optimistic investors that although this figure is still below Bitcoin’s historical high, with institutional participants entering the market, Bitcoin may face greater volatility in the future.
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