BTC predictions: “Will hit USD 50,000” vs. “On the Way to Extinction”

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 1 min read

Cryptocurrencies may just go on a bull run even greater than the one last year, with the market capitalization hitting USD 1 trillion from USD 386 billion today, experts said for CNBC. Not everyone is as optimistic, though.

After the market slumped only yesterday, eliciting panicked responses from the general public and experts trying to diffuse the situation, it quickly climbed back 20%.

Thomas Glucksmann, head of APAC business development at crypto exchange Gatecoin, told CNBC, “Increasing regulatory recognition of cryptocurrency exchanges, the entrance of institutional capital and major technology developments will contribute to the market’s rebound and push cryptocurrency prices to all new highs this year […] There is no reason why we couldn’t see bitcoin pushing USD 50,000 by December.”

Jamie Burke, CEO at Outlier Ventures, added, “We believe after February the market will likely go on a bull run comparative if not greater than last year potentially reaching the trillion-dollar mark before a proper crypto winter sets in where the market becomes more focused on proper market fundamentals.”

On the pessimistic side, economist Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the 2008 financial collapse, is openly against crypto, tweeting that, “Bitcoin starts to look like a dinosaur on the way to extinction.” Roubini has been a consistent and vocal critic of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies more generally, as evidenced by his social media profiles.

Carl Icahn, one of Wall Street’s most successful investors, considers crypto “ridiculous”. The Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform added, “I don’t like the cryptocurrencies only because, maybe I don’t understand them. How do you regulate them?”

Words of warning are not limited to western countries either. A senior Taiwanese official is urging the government to prepare policies to tackle the potential impact of cryptocurrencies on the country’s financial stability. According to a government report, Shih Jun-ji, vice president of Taiwan’s executive branch of government, said that the country should be well-positioned to maintain its financial stability in the event of a market collapse.