Marathon CEO Fred Thiel suggests that Bitcoinโs upcoming halving may already be partially priced in due to the success of spot ETF approvals.
The upcoming halving of Bitcoin, set for mid-April, might already be accounted for to some extent, as suggested by Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, the largest public U.S. crypto mining company. In an interview with Bloomberg, Thiel attributed Bitcoinโs recent surge to an all-time high partly to the approval of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which has attracted increased capital into the market.
โI think the ETF approval, which has been a huge success, has attracted capital into the market and essentially brought forward what could have been the price appreciation we typically would have seen three to six months post halving.โ
Fred Thiel
While acknowledging the role of ETF approvals in the current market dynamics, Thiel hinted that Bitcoinโs rally may not be fully exhausted, suggesting potential further growth post-halving. Since the beginning of 2024, Bitcoin has witnessed a 60% surge in price value, outperforming Ethereum (ETH) and other altcoins in terms of percentage profit.
Commenting on the upcoming halving, Thiel expressed enthusiasm, despite its implications for reducing Bitcoinโs supply by about 450 BTC per day and cutting minersโ rewards for block production by half: from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
โBut as miners we are very excited to go into a halving, where for once prices have not declined prior to the halving rather prices have gone up so everybody is obviously maximizing to that.โ
Fred Thiel
Thiel estimated that post-halving, Marathonโs break-even rate would hover around $46,000 per Bitcoin to maintain profitability. As of press time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $68,826, with the total market value standing at $2.57 trillion, while Marathonโs MARA stock price has experienced a decline of over 20% year-to-date, according to data from Google.
