BITCOIN MAY HIT $100K BY CAPTURING ‘EVEN 2 TO 5% OF GOLD’S MARKET CAP’ — HUT 8 VP SUE ENNIS

The next Bitcoin halving event is less than nine months away, and the mainstream opinion among analysts and investors is that the halving will boost Bitcoin's price to a new all-time high or even above $100,000. This opinion is supported by the fact that the next Bitcoin halving event will occur in less than nine months.

Despite this notion, little new money has been coming into the cryptocurrency market recently. There are headwinds in the macroeconomic environment, and Bitcoin's (BTC) price has recently dropped below $30,000. These factors inspire little confidence in this hypothesis in the short term.

VICE PRESIDENT OF HUT 8 VIEW

Sue Ennis, vice president of Hut 8, was recently interviewed by Paul Barron. During the conversation, Ennis discussed her predictions regarding how the price of Bitcoin will increase to more than $100,000 within the next year and how the imminent halving will affect Bitcoin miners. Hut 8 has a reserve balance of 9,152 Bitcoins, of which 8,305 are free and clear of any obligations. In July, Hut 8 mined 44.6 Bitcoin even though the company's installed ASIC hash rate capacity was only 2.6 exahashes per second.

During the conversation, Barron asked whether the increasing difficulty of Bitcoin mining for miners could lead to a new wave of selling pressure against BTC. Barron noted, concerning data from the Hashrate Index, that spikes in the difficulty of mining Bitcoin were followed by decreases in the price of Bitcoin.

Barron questioned whether miners were selling Bitcoin due to the approaching halving creating a need for more efficient ASICs and whether or not Bitcoin's price behavior before and after the halving would not be as bullish as investors expected.

"There are a lot of really unprecedented dynamics that are happening right now in the mining space," said Ennis, who was quoted as saying so. [...] Notably, the hash rate is increasing even though the bitcoin price trades inside a set zone. [...] We are still observing a rise in the hash rate."

Ennis clarified, "What's changed now is that we're seeing Bitcoin price come down a little, but hash rate continues to go up." [...] What is fascinating and distinct is that we are witnessing many new entries into the global Bitcoin network.

Ennis made a reference to the six gigawatts of nuclear and renewable energy that are being generated in the Middle East. In addition, the governments of that region are investigating the possibility of Bitcoin mining, which means that more hash rate is coming online in a way that is mostly unaffected by price. This is a huge departure from how publicly traded mining companies in the United States that are more future-focused conduct their business.

Ennis argued that miners need to be able to avoid being "single-threaded" for them to be able to continue operating after the halving. This means they need more than one way to produce cash outside mining Bitcoin to continue operating.

Exploring various artificial intelligence (AI) applications, devoting some warehouse rack space to GPUs for businesses specializing in AI training, and offering industrial-level ASIC repair services are ways to diversify a company's revenue stream. You could even participate in demand-response initiatives alongside large energy producers and distributors.

PROGRAMMED HIGHER PRICES. THANK YOU TO THE HALVING AND FUTURE BTC ETF

The approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has been elusive despite the recent rush of applications for such a fund. Cryptocurrency investors have waited for years for the debut of a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Ennis stated that a "spot ETF coming to market, that's incredibly bullish for the asset class," despite the history of delays and denials, but she also cautioned that approval could create sell pressure on miner equities given that mining stocks have frequently been used as a proxy investment to Bitcoin.

In response to a question on the likelihood that a spot Bitcoin ETF will be approved before the end of 2023, Ennis stated, "Definitely better than 50." BlackRock, a huge company and the largest asset management in the world has entered the competition, which is the real reason for my opinion on the matter. BlackRock has thrown its hat into the ring. It is a huge step forward for them to enter the competition and declare that this is what they want, combined with the massive market influence they've demonstrated in previous endeavors. Therefore, the fact that they made this call is a strong indication.

Regarding a possible goal for the price of Bitcoin, Ennis stated, "I definitely do think we could see in this next cycle a $100,000 cost per Bitcoin. And that's based on if BTC were to capture even 2 to 5% of gold's $13 trillion place in institutional portfolios." Ennis was speaking about a potential aim for the price of Bitcoin. If Bitcoin could grab even two to three percent of gold's market cap, that would be tremendously accretive to the price and drive it well above $100,000.