Both a $60,000 Coin Price and a crash are realistic possibilities for Bitcoin in 2018 according to major cryptocurrency investors. Intriguingly, at least one well-known altcoin entrepreneur thinks both scenarios are probable.
“I think we’re going to see Bitcoin (BTC) hitting the $60,000 mark, but I also think we’re going to see Bitcoin hitting the $5,000 mark,” Julian Hosp told CNBC’s Squawk Box. Hosp is the founder of the Singapore-based startup TenX which has attracted a lot of capital and attention to its plans for a digital wallet and a cryptocurrency debit card.
Hosp’s belief is that Bitcoin will go on a roller coaster ride in 2018. He seems to think, the recent price drop was a dip that will be followed by a big price increase.
TenX Founder thinks Bitcoin Coin Price can grow by $44,000
If Bitcoin were to fall to the low, its Coin Price would fall by $10,900, from the $15,900 average on December 26, 2017. Were Bitcoin to rise to Hosp’s high it would gain $44,100.00 from the December 26 price.
Hosp welcomed the fall in Bitcoin, seeing it as a healthy correction that investors should take advantage of. He also warned that Bitcoin will fall again in the near future. Hosp did not give a timetable for his prediction, but CNBC claimed he said Bitcoin will reach $60,000 in 2018.
“This dip for us was very, very healthy, and some of us have used it to buy a little bit more because suddenly we had a 40% to 45% discount to all-time highs,” Hosp said.
Entrepreneur Expects Major Shake Out and Consolidation in Cryptocurrency Market
“I don’t think crypto winter is going to come in the next couple of months, but I think if we look down one to two years, there is definitely going to be a big compression in the market,” Hosp said. His belief is that altcoins with real value will retain it, but many others will disappear.
“The money is going to flow into those assets in this cryptocurrency space that really deliver value; have new technology, and are being used by people,” Hosp speculated. Hosp did not mention specific altcoins that will deliver value.
Hosp owns one of those assets in the form of TenX (PAY), which provides a digital wallet that can convert cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies. TenX can be accessed through either an app or a planned debit card. TenX is partially financed by the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency PAY.
Hosp compared the current cryptocurrency market to the Dotcom Bubble at the turn of the 21st Century. When that bubble burst many online companies lost all their value.
LedgerX bets Bitcoin will triple in Price Next Year
There are some professional traders that appear to agree with Hosp’s assessment of Bitcoin’s future.
The trading platform LedgerX is also bullish on Bitcoin, but not as bullish as Hosp. LedgerX paid $1 million for 275 call options to give it the right to purchase Bitcoin at a price of $50,000 before December 28, 2018, CNBC reported. LedgerX offers Bitcoin options trading for institutions.
If LedgerX’s bet pays off, Bitcoin’s Coin Price would more than triple. BTC was trading at $15,900 on the afternoon of December 26, 2017. That number multiplied by three would deliver a Coin Price of $47,700.
LedgerX bought the options to lock in a price lower than that predicted by Hosp. If Hosp’s prediction were to come true, LedgerX would buy Bitcoin, at $50,000 and make a $10,000 profit on the sale of each coin.
Billionaire Drops plans for Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund
Market conditions have turned at least prominent altcoin bull bearish. Billionaire Michael Novogratz has dropped plans for a cryptocurrency hedge fund called Galaxy Digital Assets.
Interestingly, one reason why Novogratz shelved the fund plans was the high price of Bitcoin. Novogratz told The Economic Times that he might have a hard time getting Bitcoin for clients.
“We didn’t like market conditions and we wanted to re-evaluate what we’re doing,” Novogratz said on December 22, 2017. “I look pretty smart pressing the pause button right now.”
Novogratz also admitted that he has been selling a lot of the cryptocurrency he owns. Novogratz had been planning to invest $150 million of his own money, and raise another $350 million from investors for Galaxy Digital Assets, Bloomberg Markets reported in September.
Another reason why Galaxy Digital Assets was shelved is that Novogratz felt he would look bad buying cryptocurrency for clients while selling his personal holdings. Novogratz is a former partner at Goldman Sachs who also ran the Fortress Group LLC Hedge fund. Novogratz has been a major proponent of Ethereum in the past and is a friend of its creator Vitalik Buterin.
Novogratz predicts $8,000 Bitcoin
Interestingly, Novogratz has more faith in Bitcoin than Hosp. He predicted that BTC’s Coin Price will bottom out at $8,000; Hosp thinks it will fall to $5,000.
Despite that Novogratz expressed a lot of frustration with the cryptocurrency market. He also expressed worry about some of the behavior in today’s altcoin markets.
“I didn’t want to have to deal with the schizophrenic emotional side of it,” Novogratz said. “There are just so many conflicts in that business. It was going to be more complicated than I wanted.”
Ethereum Founder thinks Cryptocurrency Reflects World at Large
Novogratz is not the only cryptocurrency booster expressing frustration with the market. Buterin told CNBC that he thinks cryptocurrency prices are being boosted by irrational trading that extends far beyond the altcoin market. He cited the $450 million paid for the Leonardo Da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi in November as an example of equally absurd trading generated by popular hysteria.
Buterin called the increasing interest in cryptocurrencies “a reflection of the world at large.” CNBC did not say what he meant, but Buterin might think high altcoin and art prices were created by lack of faith in stocks and fiat currencies. That lack of faith is driving skeptical investors to move their money into hard assets and crypto.
If Buterin is right, Bitcoin might reach the $60,000 high Hosp predicted because the rally is based on emotion rather than value. That indicates the cryptocurrency bubble might be just beginning.
