Arthur Hayes, the CEO of BitMEX, predicts that bitcoin will reach the $50,000 mark by the end of this year. Appearing on CNBC’s Fast Money, the former Citigroup and Deutsche Bank executive also spoke on volatility and the dominance of Asian retail traders in the crypto market.
Bitcoin at $50,000
When asked to give a bitcoin price prediction, Hayes said it could reach $50,000 before the end of 2018. Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market has endured a difficult start to 2018 with bitcoin, in particular, dropping to below $6,000 in February after having almost broken the $20,000 ceiling in mid-December 2017. Commenting on the seriousness of his prediction, Hayes said:
It’s my job to make predictions. Whether they’re right or wrong, it doesn’t matter to me.
Tom Lee of Fundstrat has on many occasions this year predicted that bitcoin will be $20,000 by the middle of the year and will round up 2018 trading at $25,000.
BitMEX: Highest Bitcoin Trading by Volume
BitMEX is based in Hong Kong and has a large trading base in North Asia. The platform also holds the record for the most number of bitcoins traded in a 24-hour trading period at 140 BTC. BitMEX offers bitcoin futures and swaps as well as altcoin futures for Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum. One of the headline features of the platform is that it offers 100x leveraged trading, which according to Hayes is hardly ever used by traders.
It’s a headline number. Most traders do not use a 100x leverage. Some traders use it as a testing ground or a free option. It is a limited liability from the perspective of the trader. On BitMEX, traders can only lose what they put in.
Asian Crypto Trading Dominance
Hayes also spoke about the dominance of Asian retail traders in the crypto market. This is because there is an established digital asset trading tradition in the region.
Asia dominates cryptos because they’re very used to digital trading assets. South Korea has been trading digital goods related to gaming for two decades. When you move to a purely money based digital currency, they understand that culturally, so they get on board quickly.
Did you see my ride today at #Consensus2018 ? pic.twitter.com/qGznsNMgWo
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) May 14, 2018
Hayes is one of the participants at this year’s Consensus Conference taking place in New York. He took to Twitter on Monday to share a photo of the rented orange Lamborghini Huracan he purportedly arrived in at the summit.
Will bitcoin hit the $50,000 milestone in 2018? Will the entry of Institutional American investors challenge the Asian retail trading dominance in the crypto space? Let us know in the comment section below.
Image courtesy of BitMEX and Twitter @CryptoHayes., Shutterstock
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