AP
Bitcoin is still on track to nearly double from current levels this year, despite the crypto's steep sell-off, according to Anthony Scaramucci.
The Skyridge Capital founder and longtime crypto bull said he saw a number of bullish factors that lie ahead for bitcoin. Despite the coin's 17% slide over the past month, bitcoin is still on track to eventually reach $170,000, and could potentially pass the $100,000 mark by the end of the year, Scaramucci told CNBC in an interview on Monday.
"We still love the fundamentals of bitcoin long term," he added, pointing to three positive catalysts for the crypto.
Bitcoin investors could be on the receiving end of a wave of crypto payments — and they're likely to sow a significant portion of that back into the market, Scaramucci said.
Mount Gox, the defunct crypto exchange that failed a decade ago, is already starting to pay back the $9 billion it owes its creditors and customers, the company said in a statement last week.
FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed and roiled the digital asset market in 2022, is also planning to pay back most of its depositors in full. That could return up to $16 billion of crypto back to investors, lawyers for the exchange said.
Around 40%-50% of payouts could end up being reinvested in crypto, Scaramucci estimated, based on the loyalty many "hardcore" early bitcoin investors have.
"A lot of that was in bitcoin, it got frozen in the bankruptcy, it got dollarized, unfortunately, at low numbers for bitcoin, but going to go back to those account holders shortly, and we think a lot of that will flow back into the asset," he said of FTX customer deposits.
Lawmakers have introduced a bill setting a regulatory framework for crypto. That's one promising sign bitcoin is becoming a more widely accepted storage of value, which is bullish for its long-term trajectory, Scaramucci said.
"Right there, glaringly in the GOP platform, is the protection of digital assets and the protections specifically of bitcoin," he added. "To me, I think it's an overwhelming conclusion that this will be an acceptable long-term asset class in the United States."
Bitcoin's price has been depressed partly due to temporary selling pressure, Scaramucci said.
Bitcoin's halving event, for instance, fueled some selling pressure among miners trying to keep profits afloat, he noted, while Mount Gox's repayments have also fueled some selling pressure from investors regaining access to their crypto investments.
The German government has also offloaded several hundred million worth of crypto after law enforcement seized around $2.2 billion in bitcoin from a movie piracy site in 2024. The government sent another $155 million in bitcoin to various crypto exchanges and market makers on Monday, according to data from blockchain analytics site Arkhan Intelligence.
Those selling pressures, though, will likely subside, Scaramucci said. That's in-line with other crypto forecasters, who have predicting the coin will recover from its slump in the coming months as sellers back off.
Bitcoin treaded slightly higher on Tuesday, trading around $57,000. Despite its recent selloff, the crypto is still up 29% from levels at the start of the year, attesting to more bullish sentiment among risky assets.
