Bitcoin has had a bad start to 2022, losing around 10% of its value and taking the wind out of the crypto market's sails—even as some big-name investors issue huge bitcoin price predictions.
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The bitcoin price, after swinging wildly through much of 2021, is up just 18% on this time last year as some other smxaller cryptocurrencies make outsized gains.
Now, the head of a Swiss bank has predicted bitcoin could climb to a fresh all-time high this year, based on his company's "internal valuation models."
"Our internal valuation models indicate a price right now between $50,000 and $75,000," Guido Buehler, the chief executive of Swiss digital asset bank Seba, said on the sidelines of the Crypto Finance Conference in Switzerland, it was reported by Yahoo Finance, adding, "I’m quite confident we’re going to see that level. The question is always timing."
Buehler pointed to the expectation that institutional investors will embrace bitcoin in coming months and years as one of the biggest drivers of the bitcoin price.
"Institutional money will probably drive the price up," Buehler said. "We are working as a fully regulated bank. We have asset pools that are looking for the right time to invest."
Bitcoin's huge 2021 was fueled by the likes of Tesla TSLA +1.8% and El Salvador adopting the cryptocurrency. Earlier this month, Wall Street giant Fidelity has said other countries and even a central bank could follow El Salvador and Tesla into bitcoin this year—predicting those that buy bitcoin while the price is low "will be better off competitively than their peers."
Meanwhile, Wall Street giants and institutional investors have rushed to meet client demand for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in recent months as the soaring price of digital assets tempts traders. Ultra low interest rates and surging inflation have pushed up the price of assets across the board over the last two years.
The bitcoin price hit highs of almost $70,000 per bitcoin last year but has lost around 40% of its ... [+]
COINBASEInflation, now at a near-40 year high in the U.S., "shows how the traditional fiat system, of which it is a key component as it is charged with maintaining price stability, is dangerously out of step with reality," Nigel Green, the chief executive of financial advisory group deVere, said in emailed comments.
"I believe this will fuel the demand—and therefore the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies."
Bitcoin's reputation as a store of value and hedge against inflation has grown over the last two years, popularized in traditional financial circles by famed investor Paul Tudor Jones who named bitcoin as "the fastest horse to beat inflation" in May 2020.
"With bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million, and institutional investors increasingly moving off the sidelines and into the crypto market, it’s going to continue to outpace gold as a safe haven for capital," said Green.
"Money flows to where it gets its best treatment, and with treasuries yielding negative in real terms, moving capital into the Fed is a clear liability for investors."
Source: forbes.com
