Despite recent price woes, experts are predicting that Bitcoin will double in value by the end of the year.
Bitcoin Price Stagnant, but Not for Long
As of late, uncertainties with regard to regulations and the seizure of Bitcoin in legal cases like Mt. Gox, which led to the unloading of coins on exchanges, has caused some stagnation. This means that, according to experts, the short-term crypto forecast is expected to remain relatively static — though not for long.
“I believe Bitcoin’s price will continue to fluctuate between $6,500 and $8,500 in the coming weeks,” David Hanson, a blockchain expert and CEO of the gaming platform Ultra, told the Independent. He continued:
“In the medium-to-long term, Bitcoin’s value should go up, as big institutions enter the crypto space in a bid to gain first-mover advantage, further legitimising the market.”
This idea that institutional investors will provide a boost to the digital currency (and altcoins) is shared by other figures in the space, who are looking at the cryptocurrency to break the $10,000 barrier again in coming months.
Despite the drop from almost $20,000 in December, and the fact that the number one crypto has not gone above $10,000 since March (though it came awfully close in early-May), more people and companies alike are getting interested in the coin — and this is set to show, according to Iqbal Gandham, the U.K. managing director of eToro.
“As the regulatory landscape clears up we can expect far more investors, including big ticket institutions, to make their first cryptocurrency investments,” he said. He went on to say:
“For the first few months of this year, the crypto industry has been jogging along at a relatively slow pace, waiting for the opportunity to stretch into a sprint. This may just be that moment.”
Bitcoin Predictions Look to 95% Gains by Year End
At the beginning of the year, following the register of all time highs for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at the end of 2017, price predictions were very positive. Tim Draper, an early backer of Tesla, Skype, and SpaceX, and one of the most high-profile Bitcoin investors, said that it could hit $250,000 by 2022.
Although Draper did not disclose the method he used to calculate his forecast, a comparable number was provided by Horizon Kinetics’ Murray Stahl, who argued that the digital currency could be worth the value of all the currency in the world. He believes this is the case because fiat money can be ‘debased,’ but there will be only 21 million Bitcoins ever made.
Another person with positive price predictions is Alistair Milne, the self-described ‘Bitcoin evangelist.’ Milne has stated that he believes Bitcoin will reach between $35,000 and $60,000 by the end of 2019.
Following Milne’s lead, similar numbers were suggested by a panel of crypto experts put together by price comparison site Finder.com, who originally stated that Bitcoin would hit $33,000 by the end of this year. This week the panel released a revised figure, bringing the prediction to less than half the initial outlook at just $14,638 — but those are still great gains on Bitcoin’s current price of just under $7,700, according to CoinMarketCap.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
