Bitcoin investors, which include top hedge funds and money managers, are betting the virtual currency could more than quintuple to as high as $100,000 in a year. It’s a wager that has drawn eye-rolls from skeptics who believe the volatile cryptocurrency is a speculative asset rather than a store of value like gold.
Since January, bitcoin has gained 160%, bolstered by strong institutional demand as well as scarcity as payment companies such as Square and Paypal buy it on behalf of customers. Bitcoin is within sight of its all-time peak of just under $20,000 hit in December 2017. It debuted in 2011 at zero and was last trading at $18,415.
Going from $18,000 to $100,000 in one year is not a stretch, Brian Estes, chief investment officer at hedge fund Off the Chain Capital, said. “I have seen bitcoin go up 10X, 20X, 30X in a year. So going up 5X is not a big deal.”
Estes predicts bitcoin could hit between $100,000 and $288,000 by end-2021, based on a model that utilizes the stock-to-flow ratio measuring the scarcity of commodities like gold. That model, he said, has a 94% correlation with the price of bitcoin. Citi technical analyst Tom Fitzpatrick said in a note last week that bitcoin could climb as high as $318,000 by the end of next year, citing its limited supply, ease of movement across borders, and opaque ownership.
The so-called whale index, which counts addresses or wallets holding at least 1,000 bitcoins, is at an all-time high, said Phil Bonello, research director at digital asset manager Grayscale. Bonello said more than 2,200 addresses were linked to large bitcoin holders, up 37% from 1,600 in 2018, suggesting that institutional money has stormed in.
ICOs | Rating | Days left | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2local | 5 | 6 |
2 | PointPay | 5 | 178 |
3 | Geco.one | 4.9 | 34 |
4 | Pawtocol | 4.9 | 34 |
5 | Ledder | 4.9 | 64 |
6 | DogData | 4.9 | 65 |
7 | Tycoon | 4.9 | 95 |
8 | SerenitySource | 4.9 | 95 |
9 | Curate | 4.9 | 125 |
10 | IdeaFex | 4.9 | 508 |
Сryptocurrency | CVIX | Price | Change, 24h |
---|---|---|---|
Bitcoin | 69 | $33 231.73 | 1.39% |
Ethereum | 85 | $1 419.75 | 7.61% |
Tether | 1 | $1.00 | 0% |
Polkadot | 92 | $18.22 | -0.15% |
XRP | 66 | $0.277700 | 0.84% |
Cardano | 87 | $0.353800 | 0.72% |
Chainlink | 82 | $24.77 | 3.00% |
Litecoin | 67 | $143.52 | 2.20% |
Bitcoin Cash | 65 | $451.36 | 2.90% |
Binance Coin | 49 | $42.14 | 0.41% |
Exchange | Volume change, 24h | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Binance | 16.18% | |
2 | Binance.KR | 17.13% | |
3 | EtherFlyer | 41.08% | |
4 | ZG.com | 1.07% | |
5 | HBTC | 0.09% | |
6 | Dsdaq | 1.59% | |
7 | Bione | 46.57% | |
8 | Hydax Exchange | 5.16% | |
9 | Mexo Exchange | 4.68% | |
10 | WBF Exchange | 89.06% |