Author: Xiaoyan
Editor: Ten
Niubite.com shared that since entering 2024, the price of Bitcoin has been soaring. Its performance in February was particularly impressive. In just one month, the price of Bitcoin started from US$42,000, repeatedly breaking through key price levels, and once reached a record high of US$73,000.
What’s even crazier is that in the eyes of many professional analysts, this round of surge is just a “little trial” and the prelude to the beginning of this market. The future rise of Bitcoin will only be more amazing than this.
With double positive support, Bitcoin continues to hit new highs
In fact, Bitcoin’s surge this time is mainly due to three major positive factors.
The first is the issuance of the Bitcoin Spot ETF at the beginning of this year.
On January 11, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officially approved the applications for 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs. This is undoubtedly a milestone moment that can be recorded in the history of Bitcoin. The issuance of Bitcoin ETF means that investors can hold and trade Bitcoin through traditional securities accounts , which is no different from traditional stock and fund investments. The emergence of Bitcoin ETFs provides a more convenient investment method for those interested in investing in Bitcoin, reduces the complexity of asset management and the risks of non-standardized transactions, thereby greatly lowering the investment threshold. This move will attract more institutional and individual investors, bringing more incremental funds and trading volume.
Secondly, the formal approval of the Securities Regulatory Commission will have a chain reaction and greatly promote the legalization of the cryptocurrency market.
With the important indicators released by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, more and more regulatory agencies will change their attitude toward cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. These assets were originally in a gray area and were somewhat off the table, but now they are gradually being accepted by regulators. The inclusion of regulation will help improve the transparency and stability of the cryptocurrency market, and will also represent its recognition by market authorities. Although the approval of the US Securities Regulatory Commission came with twists and turns and was a little reluctant, the result is far more important than the process. The success of this matter has solidly accelerated the legalization process of Bitcoin.
It is reported that taking advantage of this shareholder trend, the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission is also reviewing applications for Bitcoin spot ETFs submitted by some Hong Kong institutions. It is likely that in the near future, Hong Kong investors will also be able to trade Bitcoin ETFs directly.
Finally, and most importantly, the upcoming Bitcoin halving will become an important reason for the Bitcoin market to explode.
Mining reward halving is a built-in mechanism of the Bitcoin network. Whenever the Bitcoin network generates a certain number of blocks (currently about 210,000 blocks), the mining reward is halved.
According to calculations, the next mining reward halving is expected to occur at some point in 2024, probably sometime in mid-April. Bitcoin halving adheres to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original intention of creating Bitcoin – to control the supply and inflation rate of Bitcoin. Once the supply and demand relationship in the Bitcoin market changes, there is no doubt that Bitcoin will become a hot commodity in the market.
Against the backdrop of Bitcoin’s bull market, will the Asian market look at Hong Kong?
The cryptocurrency market continues to be positive and frequently creates new highs, making investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts around the world feel extremely happy. Everyone hopes to seize this bull market and complete a wave of wealth accumulation.
For mainland investors, Hong Kong may be a good fulcrum and starting point. The reason is that Hong Kong has early released many policies that are favorable to cryptocurrency, and in recent years, it has embraced Web 3.0 with a very positive attitude.
In recent years, Hong Kong has been committed to developing Web 3.0 and building an international virtual asset center. At the end of October last year, the SAR government issued a policy declaration on the development of virtual assets in Hong Kong, demonstrating the official's open attitude towards virtual asset innovation and expressing the potential of Web 3.0 to become the future development trend of finance and commerce.
Therefore, we have reason to believe that in the near future, Hong Kong will provide compliant financing instruments and derivatives linked to digital assets, and industries such as third-party digital asset custody services will emerge.
In terms of policy, on February 28 this year, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po disclosed in the "Government Budget for the 2024-25 Fiscal Year" that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will launch " "Sandbox" allows institutions interested in issuing stablecoins to test the stablecoin issuance process, business model, investor protection and risk management systems within a controllable range, and communicate on future regulatory requirements.
Coincidentally, as early as January, the Monetary Authority released a "Discussion Paper on Crypto-Assets and Stablecoins" . In the document, the Monetary Authority defined stablecoins as "a subset" of crypto-assets with "pegged" characteristics. In this way, users may differentiate it from other types of cryptoassets.
The HKMA also placed special emphasis on those “stablecoins that are more likely to be widely accepted payment methods”, that is, “payment-related stablecoins.” The HKMA believes that such stablecoins are most likely to intersect with mainstream finance and must be carried out. Supervision.
The two carriages of supervision and policy support go hand in hand, which is enough to show the determination and confidence of the Hong Kong government to develop cryptocurrency finance step by step.
The 2024 Hong Kong Carnival is coming soon, what are there to look forward to?
In addition to the favorable policies, the 2024 Web 3.0 to be held in Hong Kong has also attracted much attention.
It is reported that the 2024 Hong Kong Web 3.0 Carnival, co-organized by Wanxiang Blockchain Laboratory and HashKey Group and hosted by W3ME, will be held in Hong Kong from April 6 to April 9, aiming to join hands with more than 300 globally influential people. Guest speakers, 150 popular project exhibitors and more than 100 vertical media will jointly create a new paradigm of the global Web 3.0 trend.
It is worth mentioning that currently, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Abhay Kumar, CEO of Helium Foundation; Alice Liu, head of research at CoinMarketCap; Eugene Ng, founding partner of DWF Labs; Joseph Poon, co-founder of Lightning Network; Wanxiang District Heavyweight guests such as Blockchain Chairman & Chairman and HashKey Group Chairman and CEO Xiao Feng have all confirmed their attendance and will deliver important speeches at the carnival.
We can foresee that the content and activities at the carnival will echo the Hong Kong SAR government’s actions in promoting digital assets, such as tokenized green bonds on the blockchain, innovative financial instruments, and the issuance of virtual bonds to institutions that can serve retail investors. Asset trading and asset management licenses will become the focus and hot spots of discussion.
Jiu Zi Li Huo in 2024 is indeed a good year with continuous good things. Bitcoin is halving, and favorable policies are coming out frequently... We have reason to believe that as digital assets gradually become compliant, investors will have a safer and more trustworthy investment environment, and the digital asset market will continue to grow.
