Bitcoin tops $66K as adoption is 'inevitable': Ledger Expert

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has continued its rally, soaring past $66,000 on Monday morning. Ian Rogers, Chief Experience Officer at Ledger, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss why more people are becoming "comfortable" owning Bitcoin.

Rogers notes this success is "inevitable." He points to the four-year pattern of "run-ups" combined with the recent approvals of Bitcoin ETFs as factors helping to boost the cryptocurrency to new all-time highs. With more people wanting to own rather than sell Bitcoin, Rogers says "the price is going up."

He also highlights how ETFs have provided "an entry point" for crypto investors, allowing for more education around digital currencies. As Bitcoin rallies, Rogers notes positive ripple effects "across the entire ecosystem" of the crypto market.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch the full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

AKIKO FUJITA: Bitcoin continuing its rise. The price of the crypto asset pushing past $66,000 this morning, the leading digital currency within range of fresh all-time highs. Joining me now to discuss what's next for the crypto market, we've got Ian Rogers, Ledger chief experience officer. Ian, good to talk to you today. What do you attribute the latest surge in Bitcoin prices to?

IAN ROGERS: Thank you for having me. What a moment to be here talking about this when we're 5% off of all-time high, and we just passed the all-time high on market capitalization for Bitcoin. I mean, in some ways, this is inevitable as predicted. As we approach the halving, there's every four years, there's a run-up. But you also have these ETFs which have recently been approved and a lot of inflows coming from that.

And, you know, what's it attributed to? I think simple supply and demand. I mean, you have a programmatically scarce asset and 15 years after its inception, people are, you know, feeling comfortable owning it, and more people want to own it than are willing to sell it. Therefore, the price is going up.

AKIKO FUJITA: We'll talk about the halving in just a bit. But when you think about where Bitcoin ETFs have gone, I mean, as you said, it was always expected to give a big bump at least to the largest crypto asset, which is Bitcoin. What has that meant for Ledger specifically?

IAN ROGERS: Well, for Ledger it's-- when the number goes up, the sales at Ledger also go up. We move with the market. And I think the ETFs have provided a bit of an entry point for people, right. The educated people become Ledger customers. So, you know, it's great that people have this easy on-ramp to Bitcoin, which causes them to get more educated and, ultimately, find their way to self-custody.

AKIKO FUJITA: You talk about on-ramp that's provided. I mean, is it really just about Bitcoin? Are you finding this broadening out beyond, sort of, the usual Bitcoin and Ether? I mean, what are you seeing in the crypto space, overall?

IAN ROGERS: I mean, the space, overall, I mean, you have these, you know, meme coins across the board they're pumping even crazier than Bitcoin in many cases. They're coming from kind of 0 to something massive. I think whenever you get a run-up in Bitcoin, you get other activity around the entire ecosystem.

There's rumors of an Ethereum ETF or hope of an Ethereum ETF. And I think that's excitement and causing a lot of movement there. But it's really across the entire ecosystem. I mean, even on Bitcoin you have ordinals, which are Bitcoin NFTs with some very big sales.

You had a very big CryptoPunk sale today. I mean, the entire ecosystem is explosive. I think what you have is, you know, we had a big wash out cycle where people saw what happened with FTX. There were other risks in the ecosystem, such as the settlement with Binance, which when these risks get cleared out, people get confidence, and they want to buy back in.

So I think the ETFs are just providing a way for more people to get in easily, and literally, anyone in America can now very easily hold an asset which used to be only for the more technical minded. So I think it's just coming down the curve in terms of simplicity.