Today in crypto, Bitcoin’s next explosive move could send the asset to $250,000 by the end of 2025, according to analyst Scott Melker, and the co-founder of World Liberty Financial pushes back against US lawmakers’ attempts to probe potential conflicts of interest involving the president. Meanwhile, a new report reveals that 90% of institutional players are either using or planning to use stablecoins.
Bitcoin to $250K in 2025 ‘totally possible’ — crypto analyst Scott Melker
Bitcoin’s next explosive move could send the asset to $250,000 by the end of 2025, according to Scott Melker, a crypto analyst and host of The Wolf of All Streets podcast.
Speaking in a recent interview, Melker cited growing institutional interest and diminishing volatility as key factors that could drive the next leg up.
“250K this year, totally possible,” Melker said, adding that Bitcoin’s volatility has declined significantly in recent years.
“It used to be about three times as volatile as the S&P. Now it’s less than two times.” He pointed to increased involvement from pension funds and ETF issuers as evidence of a more mature, stable market.
The shift, he argued, reflects a broader trend of institutional adoption. “The more institutional money, the more Wall Street money, the more long-term holders get involved, the less volatility there’s going to be,” Melker explained.
World Liberty Financial brushes off oversight concerns from Congress
Zach Witkoff, one of the co-founders of the Donald Trump family-backed crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has rebuffed efforts by US lawmakers to investigate the president’s potential conflicts of interest.
In a May 15 letter to Senator Richard Blumenthal, lawyers for World Liberty Financial claimed a call to investigate the crypto platform was based on “fundamentally flawed premises and inaccuracies.” Witkoff did not specifically address any allegations, claiming that WLFI was “too busy building” for oversight.
“The Company rejects the false choice between innovation and oversight,” said the letter. “What it opposes is the misuses of regulatory authority and uncertainty to suppress lawful innovation.”
Blumenthal, the ranking member of the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, was one of many Democrats calling for investigations and legislative changes in response to Trump’s ties to WLFI, as well as his TRUMP memecoin and its dinner scheduled for the top tokenholders on May 22.
The GENIUS Act, a bill to recognize stablecoins as payment instruments currently being considered in Congress, may be a bellwether for how lawmakers intend to handle the president’s potential conflicts of interest.
90% of institutions “taking action” on stablecoins
A report from enterprise-grade digital assets platform Fireblocks shows that 90% of institutional players are using or exploring the use of stablecoins in their operations.
The report, published May 15, surveyed 295 executives across traditional banks, financial institutions, fintech companies and payment gateways. Almost half of the respondents (49%) said they already use stablecoins in payments, while 23% are conducting pilot tests and another 18% are in the planning stage.
Only 10% of institutions surveyed said they were undecided about stablecoin adoption.
“The stablecoin race has become a matter of avoiding obsolescence as customer demand accelerates and use cases mature,” Fireblocks wrote.
As traditional cross-border systems are hampered by higher costs, delays and other inefficiencies, stablecoins have emerged as a strategic solution in emerging markets’ business-to-business (B2B) settings.
The report found that financial institutions, particularly traditional banks, cited cross-border payments as a top priority for using stablecoins. Banks use stablecoins for a competitive advantage, to reduce friction and meet customer expectations.
The report also found that 58% of traditional banks use stablecoins for cross-border payments, while 28% use the assets to accept payments. Twelve percent of banks use stablecoins to optimize their liquidity, while 9% use them in merchant settlements. Another 9% use them in B2B invoicing.
cointelegraph.com