In 2017, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, said that Bitcoin “is a fraud.” Also in 2017, Larry Fink of BlackRock, which manages the equivalent of the GDP of France 🇫🇷, the United Kingdom 🇬🇧, and Germany 🇩🇪 combined, claimed that Bitcoin was “the index of money laundering,” nothing more, nothing less 😂.
The Rise of Bitcoin in 2021
Then 2021 came along, and we saw Bitcoin become increasingly mainstream. The narrative shifted, and players in traditional finance began to change their stance. At its peak, the market was valued at over $3 trillion, surpassing Apple, the most valuable company in the world.
Then there was the Musk effect, with the announcement of adding Bitcoin to Tesla's treasury and the company’s acceptance of Bitcoin payments. Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy kept borrowing fiat to buy even more Bitcoin. Bitcoin then took another step forward with El Salvador adopting it as legal tender.
2021 was also the year when JPMorgan, which had declared four years earlier that “Bitcoin is a fraud,” predicted Bitcoin at $100,000 before the end of the year. This idyll in the ecosystem ended with the bear market 📉, the collapse of FTX, 3 Arrows, Celsius, Luna… which brought everyone back to the harsh reality: Bitcoin still has a long way to go, and we’re just at the beginning.
Strategic Reversals in 2024
Today, in 2024, after numerous reversals, the SEC has finally approved spot ETFs for Bitcoin and ETH, paving the way for institutions and traditional players who want to gain exposure to Bitcoin.
Remember BlackRock, which in 2021 said that Bitcoin “is the index of money laundering”? Well, this giant now considers Satoshi’s invention as ☝️ “a legitimate financial instrument” and is very active with ETFs on BTC and ETH.
Trump and the Future of Bitcoin: A Turning Point?
And then, the bombshell 🌩️: Donald J. Trump, the frontrunner in the upcoming U.S. presidential election 🇺🇸, announces that he wants “all remaining Bitcoins to be mined in the USA.” This is a complete turnaround from his 2021 statement, where he declared that “Bitcoin is a scam.”
More importantly, during his speech at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, he announced a strategic plan for Bitcoin, one of the key measures being the creation of a U.S. reserve of 4 million BTC, somewhat in line with what El Salvador is currently doing with its 5k+ national BTC reserve.
Who would have bet that 15 years later, the world’s leading power would consider using Bitcoin to pay off its national debt and view it as a major sovereignty issue?
We are at a pivotal moment where Bitcoin could transition from an asset held by just 6% of the global population (according to a report by Triple A) to a major asset, and Trump as president might be the catalyst that helps us cross Moore’s chasm, that crucial moment in the adoption of new technology, where it moves beyond the early adopters/visionaries to conquer the pragmatists and conservatives.
We see this adoption coming with Trump, the reversal of BlackRock (which we should also consider, given its snowball effect and influence), and also the Democratic camp with Kamala Harris, who wants to appeal to the crypto electorate, seeing Trump’s lead on the issue.
As you can see, I’m bullish, and how could I not be given all these aligning factors?
To better understand the topic, I recommend this excellent video from Grand Angle Crypto. https://youtu.be/w34c3K3KXWg