Bitcoin is about to clear a big overhang, and the crypto will recover from its slump to reach $150,000 by year-end, Fundstrat's Tom Lee says

Bitcoin has wobbled in recent weeks but it's about to clear a big hurdle and will climb 138% by the end of 2024, according to Fundstrat's Tom Lee.

• Bitcoin holders will see a huge appreciation in the coin by the end of the year.
• The crypto is on track to hit $150,000 as it clears an overhang created by Mount Gox repayments, Tom Lee said.
• Bitcoin has had a strong year so far, hitting a fresh record high before edging lower in recent weeks. 

There's fresh upside ahead for bitcoin, with investors set to see a sharp rally in the token to $150,000 by the end of the year, according to Fundstrat's head of research Tom Lee.

Lee, who has been one of bitcoin's most bullish forecasters in recent years, predicted the crypto was still on track to notch a value of $150,000, implying a 138% upside from its price on Monday.

That may come as a surprise for holders of the token, who saw bitcoin slide 7% over the last month, not long after reaching record highs earlier in 2024. Yet, Lee said the sell-off has been partly driven by nervousness over payouts from Mount Gox, the crypto exchange that locked away around $9 billion in crypto when it declared bankruptcy a decade ago.

The trustee overseeing the exchange's bankruptcy announced that it would start doling out repayments to around 20,000 users starting this month. Anticipation for the event has weighed on crypto prices recently, according to research from K33. The fear is that the distributions will lead to big selling pressure for bitcoin as investors cash in huge gains in the token since being locked out of their accounts a decade ago.

But the impact of repayments will fade, Lee suggested, forecasting another big rally to boost bitcoin through the rest of this year.

"Bitcoin's probably suffering from the Mount Gox starting distributions in July. That was a huge overhang for many years, but if I was investing in crypto, knowing that one of the biggest overhangs is going to disappear in July, I think it's a reason to actually expect a pretty sharp rebound in the second half," he told CNBC on Monday.

Other bitcoin forecasters have remained bullish on the coin this year, particularly as the Fed looks poised to dial back interest rates. The price of bitcoin has rebounded after a brutal 2022, with the coin recovering all its losses to notch a fresh all-time-high around $73,000 this year.