Bitcoin’s time wallowing in limbo with the price hitting a glass ceiling of $3,800 is about to end, according to a hopeful cryptocurrency expert predicting the value will surge to more than a $1 million.
The price skyrocketed to $20,000 a Bitcoin in December 2017, but has seen a fall from grace losing 80% of value since those heady days.
Investors have seen cryptocurrencies lose around $400 billion in that time – and much of the loss came from Bitcoin.
IBM vice president of blockchain and digital currencies Jesse Lund has said that he expects bitcoin to hit a value of more than $5,000 before the end of 2019 and to eventually climb to more than $1 million.
That may be wishful thinking at the current rate of progress.
Elsewhere, Blockchain Capital partner Spencer Bogart speculates now is the time to buy Bitcoin.
“I think there’s a strong case to be made that Bitcoin is the most compelling asset in the world right now,” Bogart told Bloomberg. “[The bitcoin market] is a tinder box right now and anything could [set off the next bull run].”
Mining firm digs deep to stem losses
Cryptocurrency mining phenomenon Bitmain has racked up losses of $500 million in the third quarter of 2018, the company reports.
Revenue also dropped from $3 billion in Q1 and Q2 to $200 million in Q3.
The disastrous performance followed a plunge in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to levels that made mining unprofitable.
Investors are thought to be questioning how robust the company’s business plan can be because of so much reliance on the price of cryptocurrencies.
Bitmain is also restructuring and scaling back.
Recently, a mining operation in Texas was closed, switching off more than 7,000 mining rigs and a development centre in Israel was mothballed with the axing of 23 workers.
Generational shift
Millennials prefer dealing with unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges rather than the stock market, according to new research.
The survey by exchange eToro showed 43% of millennials trust the exchanges more than the markets.
Guy Hirsch, managing director of eToro US, said: “We’re seeing the beginning of a generational shift in trust from traditional stock exchanges to crypto exchanges. Younger investors’ experience with the stock market has seen a great deal of loss of trust.”
