One industry expert who talked to CNBC said that the world’s largest cryptocurrency might hit new heights. Bitcoin has increased by about 70% so far this year.
In November 2021, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $68,990.90. It has decreased by around 60% since then.
According to Marshall Beard, chief strategy officer at the American branch of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, bitcoin might reach a price of $100,000.
The $100,000 price point is a “interesting number,” Beard said, adding that “I think bitcoin certainly breaks all-time highs this year.”
It “doesn’t take much more for it to lift up” to $100,000, according to Beard, if bitcoin reaches its previous record high of roughly $69,000.
To reach $100,000, Bitcoin would need to increase by over 270%.
The chief technology officer of stablecoin issuer Tether, Paolo Ardoino, said that bitcoin might “retest” its record high of over $69,000.
These record high forecasts represent a more upbeat prognosis than in January, when business executives told CNBC they thought 2023 would be a year of caution.
Is bitcoin now transforming into “digital gold”?
The fact that the market currently has a favorable outlook on bitcoin in part results from how the asset has fared amid the financial crisis brought on by the fall of Silicon Valley Bank as well as two crypto-friendly lenders Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank.
Bitcoin rose in price as opposed to falling.
Supporters of bitcoin claim this is proof that it provides an alternative to the established financial system through the banking system, consumers can store their money safely.
According to Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global, “I think the surge is explicable by saying, people have been frightened out by the banking system by the failures,” he told CNBC in an interview on Thursday at Paris Blockchain Week.
Advocates of bitcoin have claimed for many years that it is a type of “digital gold”—a safe-haven asset that can give investors a buffer against inflation and a place to invest during unrest. Yet, during the past three years, bitcoin has fluctuated in tandem with stocks, particularly the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted toward technology.
With bitcoin beating the Nasdaq, numerous other risk assets, including gold this year, there are now hints of decoupling.
But, there was also optimism that the financial crisis may limit the U.S. Federal Reserve’s capacity to raise interest rates as aggressively, which would be positive for risky assets like cryptocurrencies.
The $1,000,000 Bitcoin wager
Since investor and former technical director at Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan bet on March 17 that bitcoin will be worth $1 million or more in 90 days, speculation about where the price of the digital coin could go this year has been wild. He staked $2,000,000.
The bet was made in response to a Twitter user who said they would stake $1 million to prevent hyperinflation in the United States.
According to Srinivasan, once hyperinflation sets in, damages the value of the US dollar, and countries, people, and businesses start to purchase significant amounts of bitcoin, the “world redenominates on Bitcoin as digital gold.” The rapid increase in prices in an economy is known as hyperinflation.
Source (CNBC)
