Since Bitcoin took a tumble from the great heights of $20,000, the positive predictions have abated with the bears emerging from their caves, getting more vocal as they do. In such a market for Bitcoin, it is easy to predict downturns, which is fueling many anti-Bitcoiners to spread negativity about bubbles and crashes.
Cleary buoyed by his last statement on Bitcoin Peter Boockvar is one of these such people. He has come out again saying the bubble is about to pop and Bitcoin will fall to about $1,000.
The Chief Investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group called Bitcoin crashing a few days before it tipped $20,000 and then collapsed to half that.
This Wall Street veteran again highlights the divide that is still strongly cut in Wall Street. With more adoption, there has been some softening of opinions, so much so that even the steadfast Jamie Dimon has changed his tune.
In the current cryptocurrency market, it is easy to make dire predictions on the likes of Bitcoin, which is struggling to make it back from its drop. As such, there has been an onrushing of bears to the fore.
FUD or market manipulation?
These predictions cannot be stopped, or nor should they, for it is freedom of speech and the opinion of an expert in the field – albeit sometimes the field of institutionalized investing is distant from cryptomarkets.
However, their power is akin to the power of positive prediction and the hype that comes with them. In the run to Bitcoin’s peak last year, the likes of Ronnie Moas, John McAfee, Tom Lee and others were battling to keep their predictions up with the rising price of the digital currency.
90 percent down by year-end
Those Bulls have been silenced somewhat and it has left a soapbox open for Boockvar, who said:
“I think over time Bitcoin’s going to be around for a long time but the price itself I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next year it’s down to $1,000 to $3,000.”
This is, of course, an opinion of someone who has been anti-Bitcoin from the outset, and bearish on its chances. What this entails for Boockvar is more how it can impact the stock market, an environment the Wall Street veteran is far more comfortable in.
“From an economic standpoint it’s not really something that’s relevant in a $19 tln economy,” Boockvar said when asked if Bitcoin’s collapse would have far-reaching implications.
“Maybe in South Korea and Japan – and even in the US – where people are taking on credit card debt to buy coins, yeah they are going to be necessarily impacted,” he added.
Who to trust
While the sentiment in the crypto market is always seemingly heavily swayed one way or the other, with very little time for a stable middle ground, it becomes tough to follow opinions. In these bearish times, it is easy to make negative comments on Bitcoins chances, and equally so, it is easy to predict the moon in the good times.
Co-founder and Fundstat strategist, Lee is one of the few on Bitcoiners that are speaking out. Instead of seeing the low points in Bitcoins trajectory as panic points, he sees them as buy opportunities. Lee said:
“We expect Bitcoin’s major low to be $9,000, and we would be aggressive buyers around that level […] We view this $9,000 as the biggest buying opportunity in 2018.”
He also added a reversal of Boockvar’s opinion forecasting that Ethereum and Ethereum Classic would see about 90 percent growth by the end of the year.