Outside Source
TL;DR
- Bitcoin’s Bullish Forecasts: Enthusiasts and experts, including Adam Back, envision Bitcoin surpassing gold’s market cap, with potential peaks reaching as high as $700,000 per coin.
- Bearish Perspectives and Risks: Contrarily, figures like Peter Schiff express skepticism, cautioning about a potential bubble and decline in Bitcoin’s value, especially with the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF.
- Bitcoin’s Strong Performance in 2023: Despite challenges, including banking crises and global tensions, Bitcoin has shown resilience, markedly increasing in value throughout the year.
BTC Bulls Envision Massive Peaks
Bitcoin’s impressive price increase as of late has given experts, analysts, and prominent figures the opportunity to speculate where is the asset headed next. Somewhat expected, bulls have been most vocal, with some of them predicting a new all-time high in the near future.
One example is Adam Back – a well-known British cryptographer and CEO of Blockstream. In his view, BTC has the chance to surpass the market capitalization of gold while its valuation could explode to the astonishing $700,000 per coin. He believes such a scenario might occur during the next potential bull run, possibly triggered by the upcoming halving (scheduled for next spring).
The crypto analyst James Van Straten also thinks BTC could flip gold and thus witness a price jump of 4,000%. It is worth mentioning that Bitcoin’s market cap currently stands at almost $850 billion, whereas the yellow metal has $13.8 trillion, meaning the digital asset has a long way to go before hitting such a milestone.
Max Keiser – an American filmmaker and outspoken proponent of the primary cryptocurrency – and Robert Kiyosaki – the author of the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” – are among the optimists, too.
The former recently claimed that BTC could be on the verge of experiencing a so-called “God Candle” that could take its price to as high as $100,000. Kiyosaki predicted a grim future for the US dollar in 2024 and a possible Bitcoin rise toward $120,000.
Those willing to observe additional BTC forecasts coming from prominent figures could take a look at our dedicated video below:
How About a Bearish Scenario?
Despite BTC’s success this year, some people seem they would never change their negative stance on the asset. Such is the case with Peter Schiff – an American stockbroker and one of Bitcoin’s harshest critics.
At the start of December, he warned that BTC’s uptrend could be attributed to the speculative fervor surrounding the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the USA. In his view, the excitement would soon evaporate, describing it as a bubble set to burst. As a result, BTC might experience a spectacular plunge, while gold (Schiff’s favorite investment asset) could thrive.
He doubled down on that thesis a few weeks later, claiming that the introduction of a spot Bitcoin ETF “will be historically insignificant.” Schiff thinks that the launch of such a financial product would bring minimal investor demand and create a “sell the news” event.
Bitcoin (BTC) Has Risen Like a Phoenix This Year
The primary cryptocurrency has once again demonstrated its remarkable resilience. It started the year at around $16,500, shuttered by the devastating bear market in 2022, but it seems like the finish will be well above the $40K level. Currently, BTC is worth approximately $42,500 (per CoinGecko’s data), meaning a 160% increase.
What’s more spectacular is how the digital asset managed to overcome several negative events, rising stronger after each one of them. Such an example is BTC’s performance amid the severe banking crisis in the USA in the spring. Recall that leading banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were shut down after depositors withdrew great amounts of money out of fear of insolvency.
And while the finance sector was gasping, this was not the case with the crypto industry, particularly Bitcoin. The asset’s valuation soared from $20,000 to above $30,000 shortly after the aforementioned bankruptcies.
The intensified conflict between Israel and Palestine has also not managed to impact BTC negatively. In fact, the asset’s price climbed from around $28,000 on October 7 (the day when Hamas launched a major attack on Israel, killing thousands of people and taking numerous hostages) to almost $35,000 by the end of the month.
Binance’s issues with the US Department of Justice are another example of BTC’s resilience. As CryptoPotato reported at the end of November, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange agreed to pay a whopping $4.3 billion fine for allegedly violating certain anti-money-laundering procedures, whereas CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) resigned from his post.
Bitcoin’s price slightly dipped from $37,000 to $36,000 following the news but started another rally shortly after, which took it to $44K two weeks later.
This article first appeared at CryptoPotato
