It’s been a turbulent year for Bitcoin thus far – but it seems that industry experts have high hopes for the world’s largest cryptocurrency over the months ahead. In fact, Nigel Green – CEO of the DeVere Group – has predicted that prices could be set to soar as high as $75,000 by the end of this year – which could mean that now is the perfect time to buy.
With a growing number of trading platforms like Bitcoin Code reporting a surge in new sign ups this year already, it seems that investors haven’t been put off by the recent market turbulence, which saw the world’s largest digital currency by market capitalisation fall below the $40,000 just this week. The total cryptocurrency market is currently $1.89 trillion, down 11 per cent compared to the week before – but Green believes that things will start to look up sooner rather than later.
He explains: “Bitcoin briefly dipped below $40,000, tracking losses in global equities. The correlation with stock markets is currently especially pronounced with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, which is in tandem more than ever.
“It seems investors are reducing their exposure to risk-on assets, including stocks and crypto, due to heightening concerns about inflation and slower economic growth – and there’s a growing sense that central banks – including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and European Central Bank – will be unable to achieve a ‘soft landing’ – that’s to say, curbing inflation without precipitating a recession.”
He continues: “At the moment, Bitcoin is being regarded as a risk asset, alongside equities. But this might all change again as its primary characteristics remain the same.
As inflation continues to run hot in the coming months, we could be about to see the price of Bitcoin supported as investors look to protect their purchasing power by moving out of cash and into store of value investments – and Bitcoin is regarded as a credible hedge against inflation for three key reasons.
“First, its scarcity – a limited supply of 21 million – means that higher demand will push prices up,” says Green.
“Second, its accessibility – as an asset it has value and is accepted by the market. And third, its durability – Bitcoin will continue to attract more demand over time.”
The crypto’s other inherent values of being a viable decentralised, tamper-proof, non confiscatable monetary system have also “been laid bare in recent weeks” due to geopolitical issues, says the deVere CEO – and it’s for these reasons, that he’s remaining bullish when it comes to Bitcoin.
“If anything, the case for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is becoming stronger. Therefore, we expect Bitcoin will recover from the current crypto crash to hit a fresh all-time high of $75,000 by the end of 2022,” he says.
With this in mind, he notes that so-called ‘whales’, who are individuals or entities that hold enough cryptocurrency to have the potential to move currency valuations, will be shrugging off concerns about dips, using them as buying opportunities, and focus on long-term trends. All seasoned crypto investors know that to make a profit from investing in Bitcoin and the like, it’s vital to be prepared to play the long game – and many will be going all out to amass as much of the leading digital asset as they can before prices rise once more.
Green concludes: “Panic-sellers are feeding the whales who are viewing the current Bitcoin price dips as discounts.”
The moral of the story? If you can tolerate the risk, then now is the time to buy, rather than sell. Looking at past patterns, we can see that Bitcoin always bounces back, and over the past few years, despite one or two dramatic crashes and dips, it has only increased in value on the whole. It’s likely there is still plenty of money to be made from Bitcoin, and as a growing number of luxury companies and brands adopt it as a means of payment and a handful of nations around the world are moving to make it a nationally accepted currency, the future certainly looks bright.
Of course, Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency worth paying attention to at the moment, and Ethereum’s Ether – the leading ‘alt coin’ and second largest digital currency in the world, could also be tipped for some impressive growth before the year is out. Add to that the flurry of new and up-and-coming cryptocurrencies that are being introduced seemingly by the day, and there are plenty of opportunities worth keeping an eye on over the coming months.
Disclaimer: Investing money carries risk, do so at your own risk and we advise people to never invest more money than they can afford to lose and to seek professional advice before doing so.
