Vaneck Doubles Down on $180K Bitcoin Prediction With Bulls Dominating Options
Bitcoin is charging toward a potential $180,000 year-end target as institutional momentum, AI-fueled mining expansion, and bullish derivatives flows ignite explosive upside, analysts say.
Bitcoin’s Bull Run Isn’t Over—Vaneck Eyes $180K Despite Dominance Slide
Asset management firm Vaneck published its Mid-August 2025 Bitcoin Chaincheck earlier this week, authored by Patrick Bush, senior investment analyst for digital assets, and Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research. The update highlighted bitcoin’s surge to a new all-time high of $124,000 on Aug. 13, following a dip to $112,000 earlier in the month.
The analysts emphasized the impact of derivatives markets, stating: “CME basis funding rates surged to 9%, the highest since February 2025, reflecting renewed speculative appetite.” Reinforcing their year-end outlook, they added:
We stick with our $180K BTC price target by year-end.
Vaneck first revealed its $180,000 bitcoin price prediction in late 2024. The prediction was included in their “10 Crypto Predictions for 2025” report, published in December 2024. They reiterated this prediction in subsequent Bitcoin Chaincheck reports in November and December of the same year.
In their latest Bitcoin Chaincheck report, the asset management firm explained that BTC’s market share declined from 64.5% to 59.7% as ethereum gained ground. Despite this shift, network fundamentals improved, with monthly transactions increasing 26% to 12.9 million, marking the highest level since November 2024. Concurrently, median fees dropped 13%, reflecting a slowdown in ordinal inscription activity. In derivatives markets, investor positioning remained strongly bullish as the call/put ratio reached 3.21x and spending on call options rose 37% month-over-month.
However, overall implied volatility sank to 32%, its lowest since fall 2023, raising the possibility of abrupt volatility spikes when broader market activity resumes.
In mining, the total hashrate hit 902 EH/s in August, representing a 47% year-over-year increase. While APLD shares surged 54% following a Coreweave deal, CIFR declined 22% on cost concerns. Terawulf’s 200 MW AI-hosting deal with Fluidstack, backed by Google, signaled a strategic industry pivot. Meanwhile, U.S.-listed miners grew their share of global hashrate to 31.5%. Despite gains in bitcoin and the S&P 500, digital asset treasuries saw declining mNAVs due to suppressed volatility. Still, Vaneck remains optimistic about market prospects, driven by institutional adoption and AI-linked infrastructure developments.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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