In brief
- Canary Capital CEO Steven McClurg sees Bitcoin hitting $150K by year’s end before a 2026 bear market sets in.
- McClurg dismissed Ethereum, backing newer blockchains like Solana and Sui.
- Another analyst warned against dismissing Ethereum due to its app and developer dominance.
Bitcoin could climb as high as $150,000 before the end of the year, followed by another bear market in 2026, according to Steven McClurg, CEO of Canary Capital. But he’s not convinced that the recent Ethereum surge will continue.
The BTC prediction comes as crypto markets flirt with record highs and institutional investors pile into exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $124,128 on Wednesday.
“There’s a greater than 50% chance that Bitcoin goes to the $140,000 to $150,000 range this year before we see another bear market next year,” McClurg said in a Friday interview with CNBC.
McClurg attributed the rally to rising demand from ETFs and an expanding base of institutional buyers, including sovereign wealth funds, pensions, and corporate treasuries.
“These inflows are creating a higher price in Bitcoin,” he said.
The forecast comes as Canary Capital has filed ETF applications tied to several altcoins, including XRP, Sui, Cronus (CRO), Hedera (HBAR), and President Trump’s official meme coin on Solana.
The firm has not filed an ETF application related to Ethereum, which McClurg criticized as an outdated network—though ETH has been the biggest gainer in recent weeks among major cryptocurrencies, nearing an all-time high on Thursday before cooling off alongside the broader market.
“I’m not a big fan of Ethereum, only because it is an older technology,” he said. “There’s a lot of other protocols that are faster, cheaper to transact, and fundamentally more secure.”
McClurg credited Ethereum with “a great run over about a five-year period,” but said newer blockchains like Solana and Sui have eclipsed it. “I do expect it to wane and not see all-time highs,” he added.
One analyst that Decrypt spoke with questioned McClurg’s skepticism toward Ethereum.
“Ethereum will be extremely hard to compete with despite what some call ‘older tech,’ because Ethereum owns the developer ecosystem,” Amberdata Director of Derivatives Greg Magadini told Decrypt. “It’s like the iPhone platform that enables developers to build apps directly on its infrastructure. Those network effects only compound over time.”
Magadini predicts Ethereum will catch up to Bitcoin on a relative basis, with ETH/BTC reaching 7%—implying an ETH price between $8,000 and $10,000.
Despite this, Magadini agreed that Bitcoin could exceed $150,000 in 2025, driven by inflation hedging and investor appetite for risk.
“Given the combination of an equity market rally and political pressure on the Fed to cut rates while inflation remains high, we have the perfect context for higher Bitcoin prices,” he said. “Bitcoin moves like a mix of digital gold and a risk-on asset—and right now, both those sentiments are helping prices move higher.”
Canary’s McClurg also floated the idea of a Litecoin comeback, comparing it to “silver” alongside Bitcoin’s “gold.” The firm has also filed with the SEC to launch a spot Litecoin ETF.
“Litecoin has the ability to process Ordinals a lot faster,” McClurg said, referring to the digital art and data inscription that critics say has strained the Bitcoin network (though less so lately). “So I do expect Litecoin to come back in a major way and to be used for smaller transactions.”
McClurg further noted that crypto’s seasonality could add volatility in the months ahead.
“August is historically a bad month for any risk asset, especially cryptocurrencies,” he said. “September and October are usually very strong.”
Canary Capital did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
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