This is CNBC Pro Talks, where we go one-on-one with Wall Street's top investors, smartest traders, and rising stars.

We find out what makes them tick, what makes them money, and how you can follow in their footsteps.

Welcome to another edition of CNBC Pro Talks. I'm Tenaa McKeel in for Dominic Chu this month.

2024 might just go down as the year crypto went mainstream. We got the first spot Bitcoin

ETFs to hit the market in the U.S. We got the latest Bitcoin having, which, for those who don't

know, is an update to the network that happens every four years and cuts the reward

paid out to Bitcoin miners in half. That historically starts the next bull run for Bitcoin.

Also this year, we witnessed a major about face in the relationship between digital currencies

and U.S. politics. A presidential candidate took stage at one of the largest crypto conferences

of the year and pledged to take a friendlier stance to the industry. That candidate, Donald Trump,

later went on to win the November election. Amidst all of that, Bitcoin soared from $42,000

on January 1st to just around $100,000 as we filmed this in the second to last week of December. So what does

all of that mean for where digital assets could be headed in 2025? Well, here to help me make sense

of crypto's performance this year and what to expect next year is Zach Pandell, the managing

director of Research for Grayscale. Welcome, Zach. Thank you so much for joining us.

Pleasure to be on with you.

Thanks for having me.

Before we get into a recap of this year,

for people who don't know you, Zach,

you've been following crypto for years.

Talk about your background and how specifically

you made your way to this space.

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