Bitcoin, the OG cryptocurrency, set sail back in 2009 with the infamous developer Satoshi Nakamoto. Over the years, it has been through several ups and downs, and emerged stronger on the other side of several market crashes. In 2021, a crypto bull run led to Bitcoin seeing an all-time high of around $69,000, even!
Since then, the crypto markets have lost much in value in the crypto winter of 2022, following several unfortunate events like the Terra-LUNA death spiral and the FTX fiasco. While most experienced crypto traders still harbor high hopes for Bitcoin’s recovery, many involved in crypto trading are concerned about the future of virtual currencies.
Unlike the stock market, the crypto market’s performance is not based around the operations of any organizations, but instead it’s largely affected by the general trader sentiments, and of course, socio-political events across the globe. Predicting how Bitcoin is going to perform in 2023-24 can be a tricky job as the market is prone to volatility. Still, in this post, we try to decipher how the crypto might perform in the upcoming times.
Crypto Market In 2022
2022 was one of the roughest years for the crypto market and the investors. It has been estimated that over $1.3 trillion dollars worth of investments were wiped out in the bear market of the year. Bitcoin, touching the heights of around $69,000 in 2021, fell down to the lows of about $16,000 in the year. Among other things, global inflation, resulting economic instability around the world, and the Russia-Ukraine war were the main contributing factors to this downturn.
Source / BTC-USD price chart
However, increased institutional adoption of BTC and the faith long-term investors have maintained in it has led to the crypto rising more or less steadily at the beginning of 2023. Can Bitcoin see a major bounce back in 2023-24? Let’s now understand the Bitcoin price prediction.
The $250,000 Call for Bitcoin : Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yes, you read it right, Bitcoin is predicted to be touching $250,000 by the mid of 2023. But how is it possible when it is at around $23,000 as of the beginning of February? Well, this Bitcoin price prediction has been made by one of the biggest crypto enthusiasts in the community. Tim Draper, a billionaire venture capitalist and a big time crypto bull had made a Bitcoin price prediction in 2022. According to him, Bitcoin would have broken out of the bear market and touched the value of about $250,000 by the end of 2022, or early 2023.
The Call Suggesting Bitcoin Might Lose Value Yet More
Now that we have read about the positive approach towards Bitcoin, we should also be prepared for the worst. Standard Chartered, one of the biggest financial institutions in the world, has said that the worst is yet to come for Bitcoin. The lack of investor confidence in the market is going to increase in the future. The recent failure of crypto projects and exchanges has led to lack of liquidity on crypto platforms. With insufficient liquidity and lack of investor confidence, more and more crypto exchanges and project companies may declare bankruptcy.
Standard Charter suggests a fall of about 70 percent from the recent prices of Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency may fall to about $5,000 in 2023/24 if the investor confidence is not improved in the near future.
A More Realistic Call
Another veteran investor Mark Mobius had been successful in making Bitcoin price prediction in 2022. He suggested that the currency would fall to $20,000 when Bitcoin was at $28,000. Through the later part of 2022, Bitcoin plunged to about $16,000 and Mobius’s Bitcoin price prediction was proven right. According to him, the tight federal policies by US’s federal reserve and high interest rates will cause Bitcoin to fall to $10,000 in 2023. “With higher interest rates, the attraction of holding or buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies becomes less attractive since just holding the coin does not pay interest,” said Mobius.
Conclusion: Bitcoin Price Prediction
It’s true that at the beginning of 2023, we can’t say Bitcoin might take a sharp turn towards a rally any time soon. However, with more and more nations across the world coming up with their regulatory measures for crypto and also launching (or at least developing) central bank digital currencies, the hype surrounding virtual currencies continues to grow.
As most long-term investors and those involved in crypto trading believe, the bear market might actually be a good time to accumulate Bitcoin alongside other currencies, for assured profits once the market does turn around for good.