From Nasdaq:

The recent approval of a basket of spot Bitcoin ETFs from some of the world’s largest asset managers and financial institutions marks a significant shift for the crypto asset class, making it more mainstream and accessible to more investors than ever. This is driving strong upward momentum in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices over the last 12 months.

The accessibility and awareness created by the approval of Bitcoin ETF are expected to dramatically increase crypto payments and the integration of cryptocurrency purchases into everyday transactions, which should also lead to a surge in the embrace of self-custody wallets.

Now that there is less regulatory uncertainty around cryptocurrency, it’s expected that crypto payments will exceed expectations during this bull market cycle. This expansion and acceptance of Bitcoin makes it more accessible for investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency through traditional brokerage accounts.

The recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC led to Bitcoin reaching a 2-year high of $49,000. This was followed by a drawdown to sub-$40,000 levels before recovering to over $42,500 as of January 31, 2024.

Investors are buying up a large portion of the available supply of Bitcoin ETFs, and a supply shock set to be cut in half by April 2024 is anticipated. The upcoming Bitcoin halving will lead to a reduction in block rewards for miners, which will also contribute to a demand shock that is expected drive prices up.

Recent events are set to have a positive impact on crypto payments and merchants as there has been a correlation between bull markets in crypto and an increase in activity like wallet creation, buying crypto, and making payments. In the first whole week following Bitcoin ETF approvals, Bitcoin payments accepted by BitPay merchants rose over 60% from the previous week.

By integrating crypto payments into their operations, and incurring no additional overhead costs and very minimal investment of time and capital, merchants can attract new customers and sales, contributing to significant ROI potential with little expenditure in their marketing budgets.

A bright future is foreseen for crypto payments in 2024 with the overall consumer adoption spurred by Bitcoin ETF approvals and high opportunity paired with low barriers for merchants positions the year to be great for crypto payments.



Read more: Bitcoin ETFs Kick Off a New Era of Crypto Payment Adoption