© Reuters
Investing.com – Nexo CEO Antoni Trenchev says the price may exceed $100,000 “within 12 months.” He said he was “worried” about bitcoin’s short-term outlook, suggesting it could fall in tandem with traditional financial markets when the Federal Reserve begins to unwind its massive monetary stimulus program.
But that could, in turn, “give crypto a boost,” he added, as a “crash” in stocks would likely mean the U.S. central bank would eventually “return to easing in no time.” of time”.
As a reminder, Trenchev predicted in January 2020 that the price of bitcoin would exceed $50,000 by the end of that year. “Everyone laughed at me,” he says. Trenchev’s prediction for 2020 did not come true. Bitcoin only managed to peak at just over $29,000 that year. But the cryptocurrency ended up surpassing $50,000 in February 2021.
A new era for bitcoin?
Cryptocurrency proponents say the market has matured and liquidity is plentiful now that major Wall Street institutions are flocking to digital assets.
Meanwhile, crypto “whales” like Do Kwon, co-founder of blockchain company Labs, are buying up millions of dollars worth of bitcoin, believing it could become a future “reserve” currency.
However, the global regulatory environment remains fragmented and the cryptocurrency market still remains volatile. In particular, bitcoin remains highly correlated to the stock market, especially the index. If stocks remain volatile, bitcoin could be too.
This opinion is not unanimous. Other industry executives do not expect such strong price appreciation this year. “At this particular moment, we are living in, I would say, overall uncertainty in the markets, not just in the crypto markets, but also in the equity markets,” said Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer of Bitfinex.
These market conditions make it more difficult for cryptos to progress. “So we’re definitely seeing lower volumes on the crypto side. Bitcoin volumes have been dropping over the past few weeks. So that’s pretty important as a factor because it indicates that a lot of whales, a lot of active market participants, participants who were very active before are waiting a little on the sidelines.”
Ardoino said bitcoin could fall below $40,000 in the near term, but expects it to be “well above” $50,000 by the end of the year. “I see so much happening in this industry and so many countries interested in bitcoin adoption that I’m really positive,” he said.