Month: January 2025

Throughout 2024, Bitcoin more than doubled in value. However, there is a likelihood that its price will continue to rise this year, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, the world’s largest and most well-known cryptocurrency reached $100,000. Analysts believe that Bitcoin prices could rise even more significantly in 2025 than they did last year.

“We remain convinced $100,000 is not the final milestone. We expect Bitcoin to hit a cycle-high of $200,000 in late 2025,” analysts at brokerage Bernstein wrote.

A brokerage firm stated that they see Bitcoin as having the potential to become the leading asset of the new era, gradually replacing gold over the next decade.

They also believe that cryptocurrency will become an essential part of institutional asset allocation and a standard for corporate treasury management.

On December 5, Bitcoin reached a historic milestone of $100,000.

Notably, Anton Kharitonov, an analyst and expert at Traders Union, predicted this growth long before it began. He has also stated that in the second half of 2025, Bitcoin could reach $200,000.

Moreover, Kharitonov forecasts that by 2030, Bitcoin could hit $1 million.

Belgium becomes the first European Union country to ban the sale of disposable vapes. The new regulations took effect on January 1, 2025, The Guardian reports.

Belgium decided to ban the sale of disposable vapes for public health and environmental reasons.

A ban on outdoor smoking also came into effect in Milan on the same day, as EU countries discuss stricter tobacco control measures.

Last year, Belgium’s Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke announced the ban, calling e-cigarettes “extremely harmful” to society and the environment.

“Disposable e-cigarettes is a new product simply designed to attract new consumers. E-cigarettes often contain nicotine. Nicotine makes you addicted to nicotine. Nicotine is bad for your health,” he stated.

The minister also highlighted the “hazardous chemical waste” present in cheap, widely available disposable vapes.

Belgium aims to reduce the number of new smokers to zero, or nearly zero, by 2040 and is implementing additional measures to “discourage and denormalise” smoking.

For context, New Zealand and Sweden have recently achieved unprecedented reductions in smoking rates by encouraging smokers to switch to lower-risk alternatives such as vaping and snus. These countries are now on the verge of becoming smoke-free.