Bitvavo CEO Mark Nuvelstijn said supply and demand dynamics may ease concerns about supply shocks to the Bitcoin (BTC) market during the upcoming 2024 mining reward halving.
The co-founder of the Dutch cryptocurrency exchange weighed in on Bitcoin-related market movements in a conversation with Cointelegraph on the sidelines of the European Blockchain Conference in Barcelona.
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Nuvelstijn expressed his belief that exchanges may have enough Bitcoin supply to satisfy user demand:
“If demand increases, prices will rise and will continue to rise until prices match demand.”
The Bitvavo CEO added that potentially strong demand for Bitcoin will cause prices to rise until demand cools and prices stabilize. Therefore, Nuvelstijn is not worried that exchanges like his will run out of BTC to meet trading demand:
“As a platform, we are agnostic about this. We just match buy and sell orders to make transactions possible. If there is a lot of demand for Bitcoin, that can only be a good thing for the industry.”
Nuvelstijn also evaluated Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications filed in the United States over the past year and the potential impact the approval of these applications could have on the value of Bitcoin:
“We’re seeing a lot more attention and interest in the cryptocurrency market. You’ve seen a sharp rise in the price of Bitcoin over the past two weeks. Up 20% or 30%, that’s a huge jump.”
Bitvavo has seen an increase in web traffic, as well as in customers accessing its platform and using its applications. The exchange has also attracted new customers, and Nuvelstijn added that these numbers are still below 2021 levels:
“As you mentioned, the ETF hasn’t been approved yet, right? This is a preliminary event, so to speak. The event itself still needs to happen.”
Nuvelstijn also explained that while Bitvavo’s core markets remain the Netherlands and Belgium, it is considering steadily expanding into jurisdictions such as France, Spain, and Italy. He also believes that the EU’s Crypto-Asset Market (MiCA) will drive market maturity and ease of doing business:
“It will open up European markets so you no longer need licenses from each country. Regulation will become more harmonized, which means you can easily do business across borders.”
Nuvelstijn also believes that MiCA lays the foundation for cryptocurrency companies to provide more financial services and compared it with traditional financial regulations:
“It will become easier for cryptocurrency companies to provide financial services and for financial services to provide crypto services. I think you will see these types of business models become more hybrid.”
A July 2023 report from Standard Chartered analysts showed that growing institutional demand for Bitcoin, driven by improved mining profitability, could push the price of BTC to around $120,000 by the end of the year. Will ease the need to sell mined tokens.
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