While 2020 has already proven to be a stellar year for several large-cap cryptos, some analysts are already predicting what 2021 might look like.

Major gold bug Frank Holmes has given his prediction on Bitcoin and Ether. He believes both digital assets could do much better in the new year as they capitalize on 2020's performance.

Holmes is the chief executive of U.S. Global Advisors, a Texas-based asset management firm. Speaking with Kitco News, Holmes explained that he expects digital assets to notch improved performances in 2021 along with gold. He argued that the leading cryptocurrencies had seen growth in their underlying value drivers, leading to higher adoption and price gains.

Speaking on Bitcoin, Holmes explained that the asset is seeing greater adoption. He noted the increase in the number of new wallets, maintaining what seems to be a three-year trend. However, while many have pointed to an influx of institutional investment as to why Bitcoin is surging, the gold bug attributes the rally to the halving event.

As he pointed out, a comparable halving event in the gold market could see the asset rise to $10,000 an ounce. He added that the halving had affected the supply of the asset. Joined by the quick adoption by institutions (which have a penchant for absorbing Bitcoin in large numbers), Bitcoin's demand has grown significantly, leading to a jump in value.

Moving to Ether, Holmes highlighted that the asset had enjoyed most of its 2020 rally from the decentralized finance (DeFi) boom. DeFi Pulse shows that the total value locked in DeFi projects is at an all-time high of $14 billion. Since much of DeFi activity is done on the Ethereum blockchain, the network is seeing new usage. That will undoubtedly increase Ether's value in the future.

Holmes further predicted that continued growth in the DeFi market would help Ether going into 2021. The investor predicted a “two-standard deviation” to occur to the asset in the next few months on gold. Estimating the occurrence's effects, he claimed that gold could hit $2,600 an ounce before 2021 draws to a close.

Holmes refrained from speaking on Bitcoin's potential to displace gold as the global reserve currency that many believe could happen in the next decade.

A recent Bloomberg piece explained that several Wall Street stalwarts had begun debating Bitcoin's potential to usurp gold as the global reserve currency. Bitcoin had gotten support from names like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller. Several large investment firms are even considering moving large chunks of their portfolios into BTC.

Bitcoin's market cap is still a paltry $346 billion compared to gold's $2.6 trillion. However, continued growth in the asset's investor base should force a considerable change.

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