Bitcoin watchers and traders alike voiced a measure of relief earlier this week after the world’s number one cryptocurrency hit a six-week high over the weekend. While a single bitcoin is still nowhere near its highest value of just under $20,000 before Christmas – it topped $9,000 on Sunday and is now jostling for position around $8,750 – there are some analysts who believe that the recent turnaround in digital currencies bodes well for bitcoin’s future.
“We believe the winter is ending for Bitcoin, as the crypto to fiat pressures from tax day subside, and as headline risks seem to be fading,” Tom Lee, managing partner at Fundstrat Global Advisors and one of the biggest bitcoin bulls with a year-end price target of $25,000, said in a MarketWatch report (http://ibn.fm/yxuOO).
The price of bitcoin has increased by 27 percent since the start of April, leading one cryptocurrency expert to note that historical data supports the notion that this rally will follow not fade.
“Bitcoin has been growing at 165 percent a year for the six years that we have been in business,” Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead said on CNBC (http://ibn.fm/zhdId). “Something that is growing that fast hardly ever gets down below its 200-day moving average. When it does, it is a very good time to buy. It did five years ago when we launched our first fund, and it just crossed that earlier in April.”
Bitcoin’s price has shown a remarkable ability to bounce back, said Garrick Hileman, cofounder of cryptocurrency data and research firm Mosaic.io.
“Bitcoin’s price has shown resilience multiples times this year when it has dropped below $7k, even in the wake of negative events such as India’s recent ban on banks engaging in cryptocurrency-related activity, Mt Gox trustee sales, and tax-related selling,” Hileman said in a Forbes article (http://ibn.fm/alghv). “Positive drivers include reports that major financial institutions, such as Barclays, are getting more serious about entering the crypto space.”
Another Bitcoin holder, Tim Draper of Draper Associates, who famously purchased close to 30,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road auction sale in 2014, reaffirmed his optimistic outlook for the cryptocurrency to MarketWatch.
“This is bigger than the internet. It’s bigger than the iron age, the Renaissance. It’s bigger than the industrial revolution,” said Draper, who recently upped his price target on bitcoin to $250,000 by 2022.
Cryptocurrency traders are watching other digital coins as well. Among those outperforming bitcoin early in the week were Ether, up 2.5 percent; Bitcoin Cash, up 16.6 percent; and Litecoin, up 3.1 percent.
