(Kitco News) - This year will pave the way for a great central bank reserve shift from fiat to assets like gold and Bitcoin, according to Deven Soni, CEO of Matador Technologies.
"We're going to see more governments rebalance their holdings away from fiat assets and towards assets like Bitcoin and gold," Soni told Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron. "That's going create an outsized return for gold relative to fiat currencies."
Driving diversification toward Bitcoin will be countries looking to establish Bitcoin strategic reserves, including the U.S.
" We're going to see a lot of other countries stepping into a Bitcoin reserve decision. That's going to push the U.S. to follow suit. It's going to be a bit of dominoes," Soni said. "We don't necessarily know which domino will fall first. However, the vast majority will start looking at Bitcoin much more seriously. And the U. S. will be a big leader in that, especially in the early days."
Soni suggests the initial step will be for the U.S. government to hold the confiscated Bitcoin rather than sell it. The next step, committing a portion of the budget to purchasing Bitcoin, will be "a trickier one," but he expects the pressure from other countries' actions to push the U.S. in this direction.
" We're almost certain that there's a lot of buying in countries. It's just not called part of the national reserve at this point. They'll announce it when it's material," he added.
Soni also anticipates this trend will impact gold, stating that "Bitcoin has probably been seen this year as more of a velocity play than gold." However, he sees both gold and Bitcoin benefitting from governments rebalancing their holdings away from fiat currencies.
On Soni's Bitcoin and price predictions and the significant events to watch in 2025, watch the video above.
Regarding Matador, Soni described it as "an ecosystem company for Bitcoin" focused on making real-world assets more accessible.
The company plans to launch its digital gold product in Q1, aiming to combine the stability of gold with the engaging aspects of digital assets.
Soni highlighted the importance of regulatory clarity for the broader Bitcoin ecosystem, stating that "as that clarity happens… it's going to be treated as the backbone of many more exciting financial assets."
Matador Technologies recently went public on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol MATA.
