Well, Bitcoin HODLers, you’re still very much early according to the US asset-management firm Ark Invest, which has made a new Bitcoin prediction of US$1 million by 2030.
This is doubling down on a $500k prediction made by the firm’s CEO Cathie Wood last September. Although that view into the Mystical Crystal Ball of Hopium had a five-year timeframe.
It might seem a particularly eyebrow-raising prediction given the asset’s recent struggles at multi-month lows. But Wood and Ark are well noted for their bold tech picks.
“Bitcoin’s market capitalization still represents a fraction of global assets and is likely to scale as nation states adopt [it] as legal tender,” wrote Ark analyst Yassine Elmandjra in the firm’s “Big Ideas 2022” report, which was released on Tuesday.
The outlook report added that the OG crypto is consistently pulling in market share as a global settlement, noting that its annual settlement volume has now surpassed Visa’s annual payments volume.
The investment firm giant, which manages about US$24 billion in assets, also describes Bitcoin as “the most ESG-friendly asset”.
Proof-of-work Bitcoin mining, the process that adds new BTC to the blockchain, could actually benefit the energy industry as it incentivises cleaner solutions, believes Ark.
Ark’s report is also extremely bullish on Ethereum (ETH), citing a possible US$20 TRILLION market cap for the leading smart-contract platform, also by 2030.
Considering Ethereum’s supply of roughly 120 million coins, as well as its gas-fee burning mechanism that effectively diminishes an estimated 1 million tokens per year, this could translate to an ETH price in the vicinity of US$180,000.
Noted US analysts predict Bitcoin bounce
In a tweet on January 25, Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, was clearly eyeing a Bitcoin bounce based on the asset’s price this week compared to its 20-week moving average.
It’s a bit early to confirm this is anything more than a minor “relief rally”, especially given the potentially pivotal US Federal Reserve FOMC meeting currently underway, but the OG crypto has certainly moved positively ever since McGlone made that tweet.
It’s currently up 3.8% over the past 24 hours, having just cracked the US$38k level for the first time in about five days or so.
According to McGlone’s data, BTC is in the same kind of position it was when it bottomed out after similarly dumpy period in March 2020 and July 2021.
Meanwhile, the famed CNBC TV personality and former hedge fund manager Jim Cramer also thinks the crypto sell-off might be done with for now.
However, some observers aren’t so confident in the Mad Money host’s track record of making accurate financial calls.