VanEck sees Bitcoin reaching $61 trillion market cap, Marathon buys $100 million BTC

Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 1% on Thursday following asset manager VanEck's forecast that the top digital asset will reach a $61 trillion market capitalization by 2050.

VanEck foresees Bitcoin dominance amid current dip

Asset manager VanEck released a report on Wednesday predicting that Bitcoin will become a reserve currency among industries and countries by 2050. The report predicted that the price of BTC will hit $2.9 million per coin around that period, driving its market cap to $61 trillion by 2050.

VanEck suggests that this surge in the asset's price will result from increased adoption across the globe. It foresees that BTC will be used to settle 5% of the world's domestic trade and 10% of cross-national trade. This would ultimately result in central banks storing 2.5% of their assets in BTC, noted VanEck analysts.

The report adds that Bitcoin's scalability issues would be solved by its rising Layer-2 solutions. These Bitcoin L2s will aid "the creation of a global financial system capable of better meeting the developing world's needs."

Meanwhile, Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital added to its holdings after purchasing $100 million worth of BTC.

The company, which holds over 20,000 BTC on its balance sheet, also plans to buy more Bitcoin in the open market. 

"We believe Bitcoin is the world's best treasury reserve asset and support the idea of sovereign wealth funds holding it. We encourage governments and corporations to all hold bitcoin as a reserve asset," said Marathon Digital.

On the other hand, Bitcoin has seen high volatility in the past few hours following the commencement of the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. Many traders expect a rally after the Conference, especially as rumors have made the rounds on the X platform that Republican nominee Donald Trump may announce a Bitcoin Strategic reserve during his keynote on July 27.

BTC is currently down 1%, trading just below $65K. The recent price drop aligns with history, as the Bitcoin Conference has historically been a sell-the-news event in which a few holders often sell off portions of their holdings before a rebound.