Increasing inflows into crypto-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the reduction in supply once it is halved next month could push Bitcoin prices to exceed the previous forecast of US$80,000 before year-end, says Binance chief executive Richard Teng, as he vows to work with a local partner to expand the company's presence in the Thai market.
While stressing that the bullish forecast was his personal view, Mr Teng said during a visit to Bangkok that he earlier estimated Bitcoin would end the year at around $80,000, but he now sees it exceeding that level as the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US in January has attracted institutional investors and new fund flows into the world's largest cryptocurrency.
"We're just getting started," he noted, emphasising that the rally won't be a "straight line" and that the market will experience ups and downs, which is good for the market.
His comments were made as the price of Bitcoin fell from its all-time high of $73,750 last week, which was a 56% increase year to date, to around $68,000 yesterday, mainly due to participants in the market taking profits.
Mr Teng also noted that globally, crypto adoption remains at a very early stage, remaining at 5-6% at present.
"The pace of adoption that you will see in the next five years will be much faster than during the past five years. And when crypto adoption doubles to 12%, you're going to see a lot more new users," he told the Bangkok Post.
"If you look at crypto adoption globally, Thailand is ranked number 10, very high globally in terms of crypto adoption. So Thailand is a very important market for us. We put a lot of effort into this market and work with our partner Gulf to support the crypto journey of the country," he added.
Binance, which operates the world's largest crypto exchange by trade volume, formed a joint venture with SET-listed Gulf Energy Development to operate as both a digital asset exchange and digital asset broker.
Operated by Gulf Binance, the Binance TH platform was officially launched in the Thai market in January.
"Gulf is a very strong partner that we have in Thailand -- very well known in the Thai market," said Mr Teng.
"We bring the expertise in different areas and we are ready to support Thailand's crypto journey for greater adoption with the strong partner that we have."