what we’ve discovered

Bitcoin Closes the Month at $105,000 While a Strategic U.S. Crypto Reserve Seems Increasingly Likely

February 3, 2025

Samara Asset Group's corporate news image, White logo on black background.Samara Asset Group's corporate news image, White logo on black background.Samara Asset Group's Ad Hoc news image, White logo on black background.Samara Asset Group's Ad Hoc news image, White logo on black background.

Stay up to date with our monthly market commentary:

  • A strategic U.S. crypto reserve seems increasingly likely.
  • President Trump launched a memecoin called Trumpcoin. 
  • Public companies double down on their strategic Bitcoin investments. 
  • Bitcoin (BTC) ends the month up 11.5%, while Ether (ETH) is down 4.8% compared to last month.*

Market Overview - January 

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 11.5% in January, reaching $108,000 before closing the month at around $105,200. 

This month's biggest news was President Donald Trump issuing an Executive Order that aims bolster the nation’s role in digital assets and to evaluate the creation of a national digital asset stockpile. While it remains unclear whether that reserve would consist of Bitcoin only or other digital assets as well, the price of Bitcoin responded positively.  

Before taking office, the Trump administration had already made digital assets a key focus, with commitments for a strategic Bitcoin reserve throughout the election campaign. And just before taking office, President Trump even went as far as launching his own meme coin, called $TRUMP, highlighting his commitment to make the U.S. a leading crypto hub. 

The potential of a strategic U.S. crypto reserve is a positive signal for the digital assets market and could further boost adoption amongst banks and financial institutions. This can already be seen with continuous net positive inflows in the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and positive comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell about serving crypto customers.

Crypto Asset Market Performance Review 

The crypto asset markets had a mixed month. 

While Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) finished the month in the green, the majority of the top assets by market capitalization actually dropped to close the month lower.

Bitcoin almost surpassed its all-time high, at one point touching $108,000, but ended the month at $105,200. The largest cryptocurrency closes the first month up 11.5% versus the previous month.

While Bitcoin enjoyed a successful start to 2025, the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), is struggling with problems surrounding a new governance structure. It finished the month 4.8% down compared to last month. 

The largest gainer of the month was Ripple’s XRP, rallying by 48.5%, boosted by the potential inclusion of its XRP token in a strategic U.S. crypto reserve. Additionally, Ripple’s decentralized exchange (DEX) crossed the $400 million volume mark, and the network is gaining traction amongst more prominent investors, according to Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs. 

The second biggest gainer of the month was Solana (SOL), which gained 24.70% due to the increase in meme coin trading and the launch of $TRUMP. The newly sworn-in president announced the launch of his own token just before inauguration day, and within 24 hours, it had reached a market cap of over $15 billion. 

The remainder of the crypto assets market had a less eventful month and couldn’t keep up with the top movers. Most of the top 25 cryptocurrencies, measured by market capitalization, dropped more than 10%. 

Institutional Interest in Bitcoin

January was another exciting month for institutional investors, with positive remarks about crypto offerings for banks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and four consecutive net positive inflow weeks for spot Bitcoin ETFs. 

Jerome Powell announces possibility for bank to serve crypto customers

On January 29, Fed Chair Jerome Powell took the stage to announce the latest decisions surrounding Fed interest rates and his outlook for 2025. The Federal Reserve will stop its interest rate cuts and will evaluate the situation in January to determine further actions next month. 

During his announcement, one media member asked Powell whether he would welcome the possibility for banks to serve crypto customers. Powell answered that he was leaving the decision to the banks, but he believed they could and said that it’s up to them to do detailed due diligence and always be risk-averse. 

This and the potential of a strategic U.S. crypto reserve were good signals for the market, as most equities and digital assets reacted positively. 

Spot Bitcoin ETFs start 2025 with a net positive inflow month

2025 started well for spot Bitcoin ETF issuers and investors alike. The U.S. Bitcoin ETFs saw an entire month of net positive inflow weeks into the new year. Two out of these five weeks had inflows of over $1.5 billion. 

Not even a short-term shakeout in the markets after the news surrounding DeepSeek, a cheaper and more efficient Chinese competitor to OpenAI, was enough to stop the inflows. 

A year into the spot Bitcoin ETFs, all issuers hold over $121 billion in total net assets, and the potential of a strategic Bitcoin or crypto reserve in the U.S. could further increase the adoption of Bitcoin ETF investors. 

Bitcoin on Balance Sheets

MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor announced a $42 billion capital plan with a $21 billion equity offering in October. In January, MicroStrategy bought 10,107, 11,000, 2,530, and 1,070 BTC,   totaling 471,107 BTC on the company’s balance sheet. 

Metaplanet, a publicly traded Japanese company, announced the issuance of moving strike stock acquisition rights to raise up to ¥116 billion to buy Bitcoin. The company currently holds 1,761.98 BTC on its balance sheet. 

Semler Scientific, an American publicly traded company, acquired 237 BTC, totaling 2.321 BTC on the company’s balance sheet. 

‍*Closing price data is from January 30, 2025, at 14:20 CET