Investors recently breathed a sigh of relief, as Bitcoin staved off a move under the ever so important $5,800 support level. And while some presume that the bear market may be breathing its last breaths, some pessimists believe that the worst has yet to come for this early-stage market.

Erik Voorhees: Bitcoin Could Fall To As Low As $4,750

As with any market, there are bulls and bears. Erik Voorhees of Shapeshift, an instant crypto-to-crypto exchange, seems to fall into the latter category, recently speaking with Ran Neuner on CNBC Africa’s Crypto Trader to discuss his bearish sentiment.

Neuner, who goes by “CryptoManRan” on Twitter, opened up the interview by alluding to Voorhee’s previous appearance on Crypto Trader, asking the CEO if his bearish outlook remains. Surprisingly enough, the Shapeshift executive adamantly stated that 2018’s bear market could be set to continue. Elaborating on this forecast, he noted:

“I don’t expect it (bear market) to end soon, although I do think that the rate of collapse has slowed considerably. Generally in these bubbles, after you go through serveral months of a downtrend you hang out in a range for a while… But I think we are done with a majority of the collapse.”

While “a majority” of the collapse may have elapsed, Voorhees added that Bitcoin prices could see a further 30% downside to ~$4,750 over the next three to 18 months, but will likely not move any lower from there.

Nonetheless, Shapeshift’s CEO noted that any purchase of Bitcoin between $5,000 and $8,000 would be advantageous for long-term believers in this industry, as in a couple of years a $6,700 will look like “a good spot” to buy-in at. Voorhees’ statements regarding accumulation are rather comparable with the sentiment held by WanChain’s CEO, who recently noted that the market may often “over-correct” and that accumulating at low prices may return large sums in the future.

Although Voorhees may be a long-term Bitcoin bull, short-term Bitcoin bear, it has become apparent that he is an altcoin bear through and through. Responding to Neuner’s query about altcoins and the “one true chain (Bitcoin),” the Shapeshift executive referenced his experience in prior bear markets, noting that a majority of tokens (altcoins) neither hold inherent value or are good investments in general.

Anyhow, Voorhees revealed that he is actually not a Bitcoin maximalist, as he expects blockchains to spawn all over the world, sparking a new era of crypto assets in the future. Speaking more on this prediction, he stated:

“Digital assets could fill many different use cases, and cryptocurrency was an early one (use case) that was successful, but it was not at all the only one. And so you’re going to get a lot of blockchains, and a lot of digital assets for a bunch of different use cases… This idea that Bitcoin, with its specific properties, is going to be optimal for every single use case, is really naive. And I think that this (mindset) cuts against the very nature of decentralization that we were trying to build in the first place.”

Further bashing crypto tribalism, the Shapeshift CEO brought up the idea that this market isn’t about which chain is going to win, it is rather about dismantling the legacy systems that have hampered the lives of many, via the non-censorable, immutable, permissionless, and decentralized aspects of blockchain technology.

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