While one might expect current market uncertainty to give cryptocurrency bulls pause for thought, many are brushing it off. The latest to join this chorus is Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
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Hoskinson has waxed bullish about Bitcoin despite tariff-inspired market turbulence. Speaking on CNBC’s “Beyond The Valley” podcast on Tuesday, he asserted that he expected Bitcoin to hit a record $250,000 price “by the end of this year or next year.”
Addressing concerns around Trump’s aggressive tariff policy, Hoskinson suggested that the debacle would prove less impactful than many think.
“What will happen is that the tariff stuff will be a dud, and that people will realize that the world is willing to negotiate, and it’s really just U.S. versus China. And a lot of people will side with us. Some people side with China,” he contended.
Hoskinson believes “the markets will stabilize” as the world eventually gets used to the resulting trade divide.
“The markets will stabilize a little bit, and they’ll get used to the new normal, and then the Fedeserve] will lower interest rates, and then you’ll have a lot of fast, cheap money, and then it’ll pour into crypto,” he asserted.
These statements perhaps hold more weight as Trump decided to pause his supposed “reciprocal tariffs” on all countries but China on Wednesday, though many experts argue that the worst is far from over.
Away from tariff concerns, Hoskinson offered three main factors to defend his $250,000 price per Bitcoin target.
The first factor cited by Hoskinson is a rise in the number of cryptocurrency users. According to a February Crypto.com report, cryptocurrency holders grew to 659 million in 2024, a 13% increase over the previous year.
Secondly, Hoskinson expects global businesses to have no choice but to turn to crypto amid an anticipated breakdown of geopolitical order, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s advances on Taiwan as markers.
The third catalyst cited by Hoskinson is the anticipated cryptocurrency regulatory clarity in the U.S., as with pressure from Trump, lawmakers are pursuing stablecoin and market structure legislation.
He argued that these regulations, expected before the year’s end, will trigger crypto’s next leg up, especially as he believes that stablecoin rules, in particular, will lead the Magnificent Seven to jump into the cryptocurrency space. The Magnificent Seven refers to high-performing and influential companies in the U.S. stock market, including Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Hoskinson contends that these Magnificent 7 will use stablecoins for everything from payment of salaries to international staff to facilitating small transactions on their platform that would have otherwise proved too costly on traditional payment rails.
Till expected regulations kick in, however, Hoskinson expects the cryptocurrency market to idle, predicting a three to five-month window before the next impulse.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading just below $79,000. It will need an over 200% surge to hit Hoskinson’s target.
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