“I truly understood bitcoin in 2011-2012 and in all these years, the bull case for it has never been stronger,” David Marcus, the former president of PayPal who led Facebook’s efforts to create its own crypto-inspired currency, posted to X, telling people to, “buckle up.”

Marcus pointed to recent regulatory changes that mean Wall Street banks can now custody and offer bitcoin to their customers while “sovereign states and corporations are competing to buy.”

The “utility phase of [internet protocol]

TCP/IP for money is taking off,” Marcus wrote.

Positive regulatory changes for bitcoin and crypto have come as U.S. president Donald Trump embraces bitcoin and crypto, declaring himself the first “crypto president” and promising to roll back Biden-era restrictions on the technology.

Trump has also promised to create a bitcoin strategic reserve alongside a crypto stockpile, kickstarting a race among countries to begin holding bitcoin.

“The [bitcoin price] surge reflects a convergence of macro liquidity trends and institutional adoption,” Rich Rines, former lead of Coinbase’s money movement engineering and now a contributor with crypto project Core, said in emailed comments.

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“We’re seeing steady institutional inflows, signaling growing trust from traditional players. At the same time, state-level reserve policies in the U.S. show bitcoin’s role is expanding beyond just investment portfolios.”

Meanwhile, the fleet of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that made their debut at the beginning of 2024 have continued to attract huge inflows.

“While day-to-day prices can be noisy, the longer-term shift looks more structural. What’s different this time is the market infrastructure supporting it—like regulated ETFs making it easier for institutions to get exposure, and custody services that help them hold bitcoin securely,” Rines said.